Hot Hitting Leads Volleyball Past Gardner-Webb
September 05, 2014 03:51 PM | General
 |
| The Mountaineers have now won 12 consecutive sets and are on a four-game win streak. |
| Photo courtesy of Dan Shreve |
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – Hitting .446 as a team with six service aces, the West Virginia University volleyball team rolled to its fourth straight win as the Mountaineers (4-1) downed Gardner-Webb 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-16) in their opening game of the Purple Eagle Invitational at Niagara University on Friday afternoon.
Jordan Anderson, who continues to lead the Big 12 in kills per set, again led the Mountaineers with 18 kills and hit an impressive .516 with an ace and four digs. Hannah Sackett found the court seven times, hitting .667 with a pair of block assists. Freshman Morgan Montgomery also connected on two of her four attempts, including a set-winning kill.
One of the blocking leaders in the Big 12 entering today’s match, Evyn McCoy led the Mountaineers with four block assists. Nikki Attea, Caleah Wells and Sackett each added two as WVU posted a total of six team blocks.
Lamprini Konstantinidou had 22 assists, while Brittany Sample chipped in with nine. Five different players combined for six service aces, with McCoy recording two on the day.
“I was really pleased with our focus for the duration of the match. I thought we did a really good job at the service line,” said coach Jill Kramer. “Although we only blocked two balls a set, we slowed down a lot of ball and our floor defense did a great job around the block. I think our communication and cohesiveness gets better each match. It’s been nice to see the girls really put forth the effort to make that happen.”
The Mountaineers put down an impressive 17 kills to hit for a .520 clip in taking set one. With Konstantinidou adding in her ninth ace of the season, WVU got off to a 4-0 start before an error put the Runnin’ Bulldogs on the board. A 7-1 spurt stretched the lead to 13-4 before Gardner-Webb started to make up some ground. Anderson and Wells both found the court late in the set to make it 23-14 in favor of the Mountaineers. Anderson put down to more to eventually finish things off as WVU took the set 25-16.
Gardner-Webb stayed with West Virginia in the second set, taking a 6-4 lead over the Mountaineers. WVU then used an 8-0 run to take a 12-6 lead on a kill by Sackett. Back-to-back kills by Anderson, as well as a service ace from Gianna Gotterba, put WVU in front 17-8. McCoy assisted on a pair of blocks and Attea found the court to set up set point before Montgomery put one down to give the Mountaineers the 25-14 win and 2-0 lead in the match.
WVU played to an 8-4 lead on a kill from Anderson to start the third set, but the Runnin’ Bulldogs rallied for three straight to cut the deficit to one at 8-7. Ultimately, the Mountaineers stayed one step ahead of GWU, taking a 15-10 lead on an ace from Anderson. Wells teamed with Sample for a block before finding the court to push the West Virginia lead 20-13 after a 4-0 run. Anderson added another kill before three consecutive GWU errors gave the Mountaineers the set at 25-16 and the match at 3-0.
The Mountaineers will face the host Niagara Purple Eagles in a 6 p.m. match Friday evening at the Gallagher Center.
Andrew Powdrell | April 15
Thursday, April 16
Coach Pat Kirkland | April 15
Thursday, April 16
Coach Rich Rodriguez | April 15
Thursday, April 16
Alumni Series | Louisa Morgan Hoogduin
Wednesday, April 15
