After coming back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Pikeville on Friday evening and straight-setting Ohio Christian earlier in the week, the volleyball program at Shawnee State University continued its momentum with its third consecutive victory as the Bears straight-setted Montreat (N.C.) by a 3-0 margin (25-8, 25-10, 25-18) on Saturday morning inside the confines of Waller Gymnasium.
SSU, who improved to 6-14 overall on the heels of its third straight win, again showed maturity in the hitting department by hitting a stout .247 as a unit. Montreat, likewise, was held to a -.033 attack percentage on the back of a strong performance by SSU on the defensive end of the court, with the Bears holding a 7-3 edge in total blocks and a 55-38 advantage in digs.
From the outset, Shawnee State showed no relent in its offensive attack as the Bears, who scored the match's first six points, jumped out to a 15-3 advantage off of the back of Macie Rhoads -- who, once again, showed out by posting 13 kills for the match, including five during the 15-3 spurt -- and Maria Kolinoff, who posted back-to-back aces to cap off the spurt. The Bears then posted separate spurts of 4-0 and 3-0 as SSU got two kills from Alissa Kefauver and a kill from Alexis Palazzo en route to leading SSU to its 25-8 victory in the opening set.
While Montreat was able to jump out to a 4-3 lead to begin the second set of competition, the Bears, again, overwhelmed the Cavaliers with their improved attack approach as SSU went on a massive 9-0 run to change the complexion of the set thanks to two kills from Rhoads and a kill each from Kefauver and Bella Gill to take a 12-4 edge. Montreat was able to close the lead slightly to a 14-7 mark, but from there, SSU, again, used two short, but strong, bursts to take control as two 4-0 bursts, aided by two Kefauver spikes, a kill and an ace by Kolinoff, and a kill each from Palazzo and Rhoads allowed the Bears to take a 25-10 triumph in the second set.
In what would be the final frame of action, the Bears were able to take an 11-4 lead early on as two aces by Alexa Ball and three kills by Rhoads led SSU in its early advantage. However, when Montreat answered back by taking advantage of four attack errors to tie the score at 11 off of a 7-0 run.
At that point, however, Nashail Shelby came alive.
With the match tied at 12 after an exchanging of kills by Gill and Montreat's Ila Elstein, Shelby lifted SSU over the top as the frontline player posted four kills and a solo block to head a game ending, and match ending, 13-6 run as the Bears closed out the match in a strong manner.
Offensively, Rhoads' 13 kills, which led the team again, came off of a .370 attack percentage, with Shelby and Gill posting six and five kills apiece on .364 and .250 attack percentages, respectively. Kolinoff and Palazzo each posted four kills apiece, with the former adding in a .333 attack percentage and 15 assists, to help aid the Bears' attack. Kefauver's 15 assists and seven kills also proved to be huge in the straight-set win.
Stacia Martin's 20 digs, Ball's 11 digs and three service aces again proved to be critical as the SSU backline proved to be up to its usual production in the contest.
With the win, Shawnee State moved to 6-14 ahead of a 3 p.m. matchup on Saturday afternoon against Trinity International. That matchup follows a 1 p.m. bout between Montreat and TIU as part of the SSU Tri-Match.
For more information on SSU Bears Athletics, visit www.ssubears.com or visit the Twitter and Facebook pages at https://twitter.com/SSUBears and https://www.facebook.com/SSUBears.
