Volleyball Tops Providence to Win Niagara Invite
September 06, 2014 01:17 PM | General
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| Jordan Anderson averaged 5.22 kills per set to win tournament MVP honors. |
| Photo courtesy of WVU Athletic Communications. |
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. (September 6, 2014) – Jordan Anderson hit .303 with 17 kills as the West Virginia University volleyball team swept Providence 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-15) to win the Niagara Invitational on Saturday afternoon at the Gallagher Center.
Anderson averaged 5.22 kills per set and hit .366 over the course of three matches to earn MVP accolades. She was joined on the all-tournament team by Lamprini Konstantinidou, who 12.50 assists per set with nine kills, and Nikki Attea, who hit .468 with 2.89 kills per set and four aces.
The Mountaineers (6-1) hit .416 as a team in winning their sixth straight match and 18th-straight set. Attea recorded a pair of aces with 10 kills, hitting .474 in the match. Caleah Wells found the court on eight occasions to hit .545 with eight digs.
Anna Panagiotakopoulos had a team-best 13 digs, while Gianna Gotterba added seven. Evyn McCoy hit .833 with five kills and had one of the Mountaineers’ four aces as well as a block assist. Freshman Morgan Montgomery contributed three kills and Konstantinidou had 44 assists with a pair of kills.
“I’m really proud of our team’s effort and how everyone contributed throughout the weekend,” said coach Jill Kramer. “They did a good job of taking care of some key objectives we had going into the tournament. We learned more about some areas that we need to improve upon this week going into the Mountaineer Invitational and are looking forward to a productive week in the gym.”
Marina Rose had five kills for the Friars (0-6) while Jordan Wiesler had 13 assists and four digs. Michelle Cruz dug eight balls for Providence, who hit .072 as a team.
After taking an 8-4 lead on a kill by McCoy the Mountaineers were challenged by the Friars, who used three straight scores to make it a two point deficit at 12-10. Anderson and Attea each found the court as WVU went up 17-14, and the duo would play an instrumental role in closing out the set. An Anderson kill set up set point, while Attea closed things out for the 25-18 set win and 1-0 match lead.
The Mountaineers rattle off five in a row to take a 5-1 lead in set two, with kills from Sackett, Anderson and Wells helping things along. WVU never looked back, as Anderson added three more for an 11-5 advantage. Three more in a row, capped by a kill from Wells, made it 16-9 before Anderson put down two more for a 20-11 lead. A 4-0 run brought up set point, and Anderson finished things off for the 25-13 win and 2-0 advantage.
Providence rolled to a 4-0 lead to start the third set, but the Mountaineers quickly turned the momentum their way. A kill by Morgan Montgomery started a 6-0 run that included a pair of service aces by Attea as WVU took a 6-4 advantage. Back-to-back blocks, along with a kill from Anderson, pushed the Mountaineer lead to 10-6. Attea put down two more kills while Anderson added three more for a 23-12 lead. A block by McCoy set up match point, and Anderson ended it with a kill as the Mountaineers claimed the set 25-15 to win the match 3-0.
WVU will return home to host the Mountaineer Invitational next weekend. The will face Kent State in a noon match up on Friday at the WVU Coliseum in the first of their four matches at the tournament.
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