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Volleyball extends winning streak |
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Tuesday, 06 November 2007 |
 Senior Lorelle Rau sets the ball for junior Carla Durham against UNC Greensboro Friday in the Holmes Convocation Center. Photo by Derek DeSha
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by Liles Neal
Intern Sports Reporter
The Appalachian State University volleyball team improved their Southern Conference record to 13-3 with home victories against Elon University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, last weekend.
The weekend opened on Friday against the Elon Phoenix. The Mountaineers were on a 9-game winning streak, and Elon was the last team to beat them.
“It
was a really close game the last time we lost,” senior Dianna Thomas
said. “So you remember that and it gives you a little extra energy when
you’re out there.”
The Mountaineers struggled early against Elon, spoiling an early lead
in the first game with a .068 hitting percentage to give the Phoenix a
30-26 victory, but they capitalized on an early 4-0 jumpstart to earn a
30-24 victory in Game two.
After the break, the Mountaineers opened Game three with a 7-2 run and
stayed out front with leads as high as 11 points. They held on for a
30-22 victory to put the Phoenix up against the wall.
In Game four down 4-3, Thomas and senior Britney Zahn led the way to an
Appalachian 11-3 run to force Elon to call a timeout. After the break,
the Mountaineers continued their domination with a 7-3 run to put them
ahead by 11. The Mountaineers finished the game 30-17 to clinch a 3-1
victory in the match.
Saturday the team faced UNCG, a squad who had forced Appalachian to five games at their last meeting.
Despite an 11-5 lead on the strength of a pair of aces from Zahn, the
Spartans slowly battled back to tie at 24 and trade blows with the
Mountaineers to force the game into extra points.
Up 32-31, the Mountaineers barely missed victory when an ASU kill was called back on a net violation.
The game continued for four more points when the Spartans finally
broke the two-point barrier to clinch Game one in the best-of-five
contest.
In Game two, an ace from Zahn kicked off an 11-2 run for the
Mountaineers. Three aces from Thomas and another from sophomore Heather
Kale and five kills from junior Carla Durham led the Mountaineers to a
decisive 30-18 victory.
After going down by four in Game three, senior Lorelle Rau led the
Mountaineers to a comeback with four kills, 11 assists and two
important digs to set up freshman Lauren Swecker to clinch the game
30-28 with her eighth kill of the match.
Rau continued to dominate in Game 4 with 3 more kills and 4 more digs
to complete a triple double with 10 kills, 46 assists, and 10 digs as
well as leading the Mountaineers to a 30-24 win to clinch victory in
the match 3-1.
The two wins keep ASU atop the SoCon behind the College of Charleston, who has a 14-2 record in conference play.
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