Roanoke, Va. – The Shenandoah University Hornets women's volleyball team opened Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play with a dominating 3-0 (25-16; 25-22; 25-18) victory over Hollins University. The Hornets (5-4, 1-0) were led offensively by
Jillian Warter and her match-high 16 kills.
Aaliyah Chunn would score seven kills of her own, while
Emma Thompson and
Cheyenne Price picked up five kills as the Hornets would hit .270 as a team. Defensively the Hornets received great contributions from Price's 1.5 blocks while
Abby Lichtenfels would chip in with a block assist of her own.
Abby Lichtenfels dished out 24 assists in the game to lead the Hornets, while
Natalie Reader led all players with 21 digs.
How It Happened
In set one, Shenandoah quickly jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and after Hollins would go on a run of kills and service aces, Hollins would find themselves only trailing by 1 point, 11-10. The Hornets would pick up one more point to push the lead back to two before Hollins would take their first lead after six straight points. However, the Hornet offense would kick it into overdrive and go on a 13-1 run to close out set number one.
Set number two was the closet of the three sets as it was back-and-forth throughout the entire set. But the Hornets weathered the Hollins attack and used a series of kills from
Jillian Warter and
Emma Thompson to secure the 2-0 lead heading into the third set.
In the final set, Hollins jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Kills from Chunn, Warter, and
Ashlyn Wade would give the Hornets the lead, one they would never give up. Shenandoah scored in bunches as they added to their lead with three and four-point runs. Shenandoah's final point came off of a Hollins attack error, as the Hornets would complete the sweep to open ODAC play.
What's Up Next
The Hornets will continue ODAC conference play as they head down the road to Bridgewater to play in a tri-match Saturday morning and afternoon with matches against Bridgewater at 11 am and Christopher Newport at 1 pm.
#GoSUHornets
