Volleyball: West Virginia Snaps Skid
September 19, 2003 10:33 PM | General
September 19, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia volleyball team rode a 21-kill, 24-dig performance from sophomore Stephanie Zolna to defeat Duquesne, 3-1 (28-30, 30-25, 30-26, 30-25), Friday evening, at the WVU Invitational Tournament in the Coliseum.
Zolna hit a solid .246 from the floor and added three aces to pace a Mountaineer offensive attack that had nine total aces on the evening. Freshman Aurora Ebert-Santos gave WVU a well-balanced effort with 13 kills and nine digs while Julie Hockenson notched 12 kills for West Virginia.
Junior Brandice Studnicka racked up 41 assists to complement 15 digs and senior libero Kristi King tallied 19 digs for WVU, which improved to 2-8 on the season.
Stephanie Hopkins was Duquesne's top performer with 16 kills and 20 digs in the match while Sarah Morrow added 12 kills and 14 digs for the Dukes.
"It was good to get back on the winning track," said Hammersmith, who now is just one win away from becoming the second coach in WVU history to reach the 500 win plateau. "Hopefully we can come back again tomorrow and give a strong effort against two good teams."
Marshall won a five-game thriller over Morehead State in the first match of the evening, 3-2 (18-30, 30-26, 30-25, 23-30, 15-11), to kick off the WVU Invitational.
Nicole Michal had 13 kills and 15 digs to lead the Thundering Herd (7-4) while Ashley Barnard paced her squad defensively with 32 digs on the night.
Cherelle Lampkins had 16 kills and 31 digs for Morehead State (6-5).
The WVU Invitational concludes on Saturday, Sept. 20, with four matches starting at noon in the Coliseum. WVU will face Morehead State at noon and then return to action at 8 p.m., against in-state rival Marshall.
