Volleyball: WVU Wins Early Bird Invitational
September 03, 2005 11:16 PM | General
September 3, 2005
AKRON, Ohio - The West Virginia University volleyball team captured the Early Bird Invitational championship on Sept. 3 by defeating tournament host Akron in Akron, Ohio.
WVU (4-2) defeated Akron 3-2 (21-30, 30-27, 30-26, 29-31, 15-11) in a highly contested match, with the Mountaineers amassing 80 kills and 100 digs.
Senior Kelly Mullins led the team for second match of the day with a game-high 26 kills and adding 18 digs on her way to being named Tournament MVP.
"Kelly had an awesome weekend and for her to have 26 kills tonight was amazing," assistant coach Camille Gutierrez said.
Senior Stephanie Zolna was also named to the All-Tournament Team, contributing 14 kills and 13 digs in the final match. Junior Aurora Ebert-Santos led the team in defense once again with a team-high 27 digs.
"Aurora executed everything that came her way," Gutierrez said. "She came up huge defensively for us."
In game one, the Zips (5-1) came out strong, grabbing the lead and building a 14-9 advantage midway through the first game. The Mountaineers closed to within four points, but a late run by the Zips closed out game one 30-21.
Game two was a battle for each point as the biggest lead came when WVU went on a 4-0 run to take advantage over Akron. The teams exchanged rallies until the score reached 23-23, when back-to-back errors by Akron allowed the Mountaineers a two-point lead which allowed them to secure a 30-27 win.
Game three was nothing different as the teams were tied at six different stages through the first 20 points. The Mountaineers were able to build a small four-point lead at 28-24, taking ahold of the game to win 30-26.
In the fourth game, the Zips jumped out to a 4-0 lead and expanded it to a game-high five points at 7-2. The Mountaineers fought back to tie the game and take the lead at 19-18. WVU and Akron battled until the very end as the teams went point-for-point. With the Mountaineers at match-point, WVU was unable to hang on and the Zips went on to win the game 31-29.
West Virginia came out in the final game with force, ending the long-running match with a score of 15-12, thus securing the tournament championship.
Senior Julie Hockenson added 20 kills and 7 kills to the victory, while junior Gina Cusanelli had 11 kills and 16 digs. Sophomore Kailee Goold had another great game, tallying 70 assists and 15 digs. Freshman Lisa Hough added 7 kills.
"Akron gave us a tough match and it's great that we were able to pull it out," Gutierrez said. "This was one of their goals, to play well and take this down to Charleston for the tournament next weekend. It was a fun match and they played really hard."
The Mountaineers return to action on Friday, Sept. 9 against intrastate rival Marshall at the Blue-Green Tournament in Charleston, W.Va. West Virginia then takes on Morehead State at noon and Coppin State at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10 to close out the tournament.
