LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Shenandoah University women's volleyball team was back on the court for the first time since last Friday evening when they traveled to Messiah. The Hornets would continue their road trip with a conference matchup with Randolph College. Shenandoah (6-12, 2-6) would fall to the WildCats (11-10, 3-6) three sets to one (23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 21-25.)
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Jillian Warter and
Regan Minney led all players with 14 kills each.
Kylie Danella led all players with five service aces.
Aaliyah Chunn and
Brooke Gast led the Hornets with two blocks.
Danella dished out a team-high 33 assists.
Minney led all Hornets with a .308 hitting percentage, Warter had a .256 hitting percentage.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In a back-and-forth first set, the Hornets dropped a heartbreaker to the WildCats 23-25. Leading the way for the Hornets was
Jillian Warter with six kills, while
Regan Minney chipped in with four kills of her own in the set. The Hornets quickly jumped out to a 5-1 lead early on in the set using kills from Minney and Warter. Randolph used a 7-3 run to tie the game at 8 apiece. After another kill from Warter, the Hornets would comfortably lead 17-14 looking to close out the first set. However, Shenandoah could not hold onto the lead and the WildCats would use a late 11-6 run to take set one 25-23.
Having to play from behind in the second set, the Hornets found themselves down 3-0 from the start. Shenandoah would grab their first lead of the set at 8-7 taking advantage of a WildCats attack error, but the Hornets would struggle to get into an offensive rhythm for the rest of the set. Every time Shenandoah would try to go on a run, the WildCats were there to stop that from happening. Kills from
Cheyenne Price,
Kylie Danella, and
Regan Minney would bring the score level to 14. The WildCats would then use a 9-4 run forcing a Hornet timeout. Out of that timeout, Shenandoah would make a last-ditch effort to steal the set, but the comeback would fall short and the Hornets would drop the second set 22-25.
In a familiar hole, the Hornets found themselves quickly down 3-0 again, but after kills from
Aaliyah Chunn,
Jillian Warter, and an ace from
Regan Minney we had a new ball game. With the Hornets down 9-5 early in the third set, Shenandoah would rattle of six unanswered points with kills from
Emma Thompson,
Regan Minney,
Jillian Warter,
Kylie Danella with an ace mixed in from Thompson as well. But the WildCats would not go away and used a five-point run of their own to regain the lead before Minney would stop the run with another kill. After another kill from Thompson and two aces from Danella, the Hornets drew the score level at 16, but again the WildCats would stop the bleeding with three points of their own forcing a Shenandoah timeout. Refusing to go away, the Hornets would come roaring back, taking advantage of WildCat errors to take their first lead 23-22 forcing a Randolph timeout. The timeout would not help the cause, and the Hornets would get the final two points and take set three 25-23.
In the fourth, the Hornets would jump out to an 8-4 lead using aces from Danella, Minney,
Natalie Reader, and a kill from
Emma Thompson for Randolph to call an early timeout. Randolph would then use a 9-3 run to regain the lead 13-12, forcing the Hornets to call timeout. Kills by Minney, Thompson, and Price would put the Hornets back up 17-16, but the WildCats would not go away and with two kills and an ace of their own regained the lead 19-17 forcing the final Hornets' timeout. The Hornets would even the score at 20, but Randolph would have match point after scoring four straight.
Regan Minney tried to stop the bleeding with her 14
th kill of the match, but the comeback would fall short and Randolph would take the last point and the match.
UP NEXT
It will be a quick turnaround for the Hornets as they will stay in Lynchburg, for a conference matchup with University of Lynchburg on Saturday morning.
#GoSUHornets
