Wright State University
1-4
East Carolina
2-2
Volleyball Drop Marathon to East Carolina
9/1/2006 12:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Wright State volleyball team dropped an exhausting five set match to East Carolina in the Jefferson Cup Tournament hosted by the University of Virginia on Friday evening. The Raiders took the first two games but were out hit in the final three to fall to ECU 30-24, 30-27, 23-30, 24-30, and 15-17.
"I'm proud of our team's effort tonight," head coach Trina Smith said after the match. "Our girls played well and in a tough environment too. We made some mental mistakes late in games but had a chance to win in the end."
In game one the Raiders and Pirates took each others best shots during the early part of the match until the Raiders rallied to take a 19-11 lead on a kill by Jenny Schultz. The Pirates responded with six unanswered points to cut the WSU lead to 19-17, but the Raiders would score three of the next four points and go on to take game one 30-24.
In game two the Raiders fell behind early as ECU raced out to a 9-4 lead after Kelly Wernert recorded the service ace. On her next serve Wernert sent the ball into the net, starting the Raiders rally. The Raiders seniors stepped up as Schultz and Sarah Poling each recorded two kills as the Raiders tied the game 11-all. In game two there were six ties and six lead changes with the Raiders taking control on an Alisha Kimbro kill to give WSU a 28-25 lead. The Raiders held a .469 to .163 advantage in attacking percentage to finish the match off with a 30-24 win.
In game three the Raiders fell to ECU 23-30 as the Pirates outhit the Raiders .405 to .279 as the Raiders converted only 17 of their 43 attempts into kills. The Raiders and Pirates dueled in the early going of the match but ECU would take the lead at 10-9 and never let it go, cruising to the third game victory.
The Raiders would drop the fourth game as the Pirates continued their hot hitting with 17 kills on 35 attempts as they posted a .371 attacking percentage. The Raiders also recorded 17 kills in the game but on 46 attempts and committed four errors.
In the fifth game the Raiders and Pirates again traded points in the early going with neither team managing more then a two point cushion. The Green and Gold trailed 10-8 before taking the lead after kills from Lindsay Frank, Kimbro and Tara Geegan gave WSU an 11-10 advantage. With the game knotted at 15-all a service error by Schultz and a ball handling error from Frank would allow ECU to score the final two points and the match.
In the match four Raiders recorded double figures in kills, led by a 20-kill evening for Schultz, and two Raiders would post double-doubles. Poling posted 14 kills and 15 digs, Geegan chipped in 17 kills and Kimbro led the Raiders in attacking percentage with a .483 percentage and 16 kills. Frank dished out 62 assists in the match to go along with six kills and four digs. As a team the Green and Gold posted 11 blocks to ECU's seven and WSU recorded six service aces.
The Raiders, now 1-4 on the season, take to the court tomorrow, September 1 as they take on the host Virginia Commodores at 1:00 and finish play with a match against Georgetown at 5:00.
