Junior outside hitter Lauren Swecker sends the ball flying past a College of Charelston in the first period Saturday at the Holmes Convocation Center. Photo by Holt Menzies

by LINDSEY HUNTSINGER
Sports Reporter

The Appalachian State volleyball team took the court against the College of Charleston Cougars (12-10, 8-2 Southern Conference) Saturday dressed in commemorative pink uniforms for their annual Dig Pink game to raise money for breast cancer awareness.

“Everybody has someone that they know with breast cancer,” senior outside hitter Maggie Seeds said. “It hits home for everyone, from the coaching staff to our players. Even the other team was wearing pink which was really cool of them.”

Dig Pink and Cure for the Pink are national fundraisers that supporters can contribute to through a lump sum donation or a monetary sponsorship for every dig their home team makes in a match.

“The Dig Pink think really added some motivation for us,” sophomore setter Kasey Sauls said. “I know every time I went to dig the ball I was thinking ‘cha-ching.’”

The Mountaineers took the floor in hopes of not only raising awareness for a good cause, but also ending a two-game losing streak and improving their SoCon record.

“Any win is really huge, especially in this conference,” Sauls said. “At this point we’re all basically tied, and fighting for a place in the conference tournament.”

Sophomore outside hitter Maggie Seeds serves the ball during Appalachian State’s match against College of Charleston Saturday. Photo by Holt Menzies

In the first game, the Apps came out firing and took an early 5-1 lead. The Cougars fought back, and quickly pushed the score to 10-8. Great blocking from the Apps, and a kill from junior outside hitter Lauren Swecker, helped the Mountaineers regain their strong lead at 14-9.

Appalachian never looked back, and an impressive dig by senior libero Cassie Engelgau and tip from Swecker gave the Apps their game-winning point, putting them up 1-0 in a best-of-five match.

The second game started in favor of the Cougars, as they quickly went up 3-0. The Cougars extended their lead to 9-4 after an ace from Katie Robinson, the first ace of the game from either team.

The Mountaineers staged an impressive comeback to tie the Cougars at 15 apiece. Appalachian was not able to hold on to the momentum and the Cougars took the second game 25-18, tying the match at 1-1.

“Our focus went away in the second game,” head coach Matt Ginipro said. “Luckily we were able to get in back for game three. We’ve struggled all year maintaining focus for a whole game.”

The third game was back and forth between the teams with four ties early. The Mountaineers were finally able to inch ahead with a 12-9 lead that put them on their way to a 25-20 win.

Ahead two games to one, the Mountaineers went into game four needing just one more game to defeat the Cougars and move to 6-5 in the SoCon and 10-15 overall.

They started the game looking for the win as they took a fast 6-0 lead. The relentless attack of the Mountaineers was too much for the College of Charleston. The Cougars were unable to come back from the original six-point deficient and the Apps took the game 25-17, and the match 3-2.

“This was our best serving match all year,” Ginipro said. “We worked on how to attack their block, because College of Charleston has the best blocking in the conference right now. It’s easier when you can be more specific at practice.”

Ginipro credited much of the Mountaineers’ offense to the outstanding setting game of Sauls.

“Kasey set a great game, which I think really allowed our hitters to do what they did,” Ginipro said. “But we really placed the biggest emphasis on the total team, and how it takes a team effort to win.”

During the match, Sauls led the offensive attack of the Mountaineers with 44 assists, and helped hitters put together a total of 56 kills, 16 of which were credited to Seeds. Sauls also had 15 digs on the day, second only to Engelgau, who had 20. As a team, the Apps picked up 66 digs, and raised close to their goal of $5,000 for breast cancer awareness.

“Dig Pink is something we’ll do every year,” Ginipro said. “I’m very competitive and I want us to be the leading SoCon team to raise money, and as far as I know, right now we are.”

Appalachian now faces a stretch of conference games on the road, beginning at Western Carolina on Wednesday.

Team Stats
                               Kills         Assists        Aces       Digs
TEAM TOTALS        56              52              2            66

Tie Scores: 7
Lead Changes: 2

Photos by Holt Menzies  |  Chief Photographer

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