BRIDGEWATER, Va – The Shenandoah University volleyball team continued conference play today with a tri-match at Bridgewater College with the Eagles and the Captains of Christopher Newport University. The Hornets (5-6, 1-1) dropped both matches in the tri-match on Saturday. Shenandoah fell 1-3 (10-25, 25-21, 15-25, 18-25 to Bridgewater (9-1, 2-0) before falling in straight sets to Christopher Newport (4-5) by scores of 12-25,12-25,18-25.
BEHIND THE NUMBERS GAME 1
Emma Thompson led the team in kills with seven.
Jillian Warter and
Brooke Gast each chipped in with five kills apiece. Thompson also led the team in aces with three. During the match,
Natalie Reader and
Abby Lichtenfels also picked up one ace.
Cheyenne Price had a team-high two blocks for the match.
Abby Lichtenfels dished out a team-high 18 assists for the match with the Eagles. While
Natalie Reader was tied for a game-high 19 digs Saturday morning.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After getting off to a slow start in the first set, the Hornets jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the beginning of set number two. The set would remain back-and-forth until the Hornets would use a five-point run to take a 20-14 lead. The run was capped off with kills by
Aaliyah Chunn and a pair of kills from
Brooke Gast.
Emma Thompson would pick up two of her three kills during that time. A late push from the Eagles drew within two points at 23-21, but the Hornets would pick up back-to-back kills from Lichtenfels and Thompson to secure the win. The Eagle attack was too much for the Hornets to handle before ultimately dropping the last two sets of the match.
BEHIND THE NUMBERS GAME 2
Jillian Warter led the way for the Hornets with five kills, while
Cheyenne Price chipped in with three, and
Aaliyah Chunn had two kills respectfully.
Natalie Reader, Price and
Emma Thompson all picked up an ace in the match with the Captains. Chunn and Lichtenfels tied with two blocks apiece. Lichtenfels had 12 assists on the nightcap. Reader had seven digs, LIchtenfels came up with six digs of her own, and
Emma Thompson had five digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hornets struggled to get their offense going against a tough Christopher Newport team. Shenandoah would jump out a quick lead in the first two sets but was not able to overcome the Captains' attack, as Christopher Newport would use multiple two and three-point runs to take the first two sets by a score of 12-25. In the third, the Hornets would fall behind 0-3 quickly before rattling off two points of their own. The Hornet attack was persistent as they would take advantage of a Christopher Newport attack error to pull ahead 10-9. After back-to-back kills from Gast and Lichtenfels to pull the match even at 13, the Captains would use a five-point run to pull ahead 18-13. Shenandoah would make one more push to try and claw their way back into the match, but it would not be enough as Christopher Newport would secure the last three points to solidify the sweep of the Hornets.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Shenandoah will continue ODAC play on Friday evening back at home in Winchester when the Averett Cougars come to town with a 6:30 pm start time.
#GoSUHornets
