 Senior Maja Jechorek makes a kill against two Elon volleyball players last Saturday. Photo by Jordan Paris
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by RANDI KITTS
Intern Sports Reporter
The Appalachian State women’s volleyball team finished second in its division and secured a spot in the Southern Conference tournament after defeating Elon 3-2 in an avid battle at the Holmes Convocation Center Saturday night.
“I think coming from last year when we really struggled to moving up to being second in our division and going on to the conference tournament is just huge for this program,” outside hitter Maggie Seeds said. “This was a huge win. We had to do it, and we did.”
The Mountaineers improved to 14-16 on the season and 10-6 in conference play, while Elon fell to 23-7 overall and 9-6 in the league.
Saturday’s match also signified the senior players’ last home game at Appalachian.
“Winning
[on senior night] is probably the best feeling I could ever ask for,”
middle blocker Becca Norris said. “There are no words to describe it.”
Norris, Maja Jechorek and Cassie Engelgau were the three seniors to revel in their final victory at the Holmes Center.
“They
are such a special group, and we’re going to miss them,” head coach
Matt Ginipro said. “[The seniors] are the ones that completely bought
into what we wanted to do as a coaching staff, and they are pretty much
a huge reason why we made it to the tournament.”
In the
first set, the Mountaineers came out firing strong and managed to
maintain a steady lead throughout the period after pulling away from a
6-6 mark to win 25-19.
The
second set proved to be Appalachian’s weakest, as the Phoenix took an
early lead and never looked back. Elon led as much as 12 points at one
time before securing the win at 25-15.
“We all wanted the win so badly,” Norris said. “There was so much heart in this game.”
The
Mountaineers took an early 5-0 lead in the third set, but allowed Elon
to rally back and tie the game at eight. A combination of kills by
Seeds and Norris and determination from the team’s blockers would
ultimately push Appalachian to another 25-19 victory.
The
fourth set was a rattling back and forth contest that featured 18 ties
and eight total lead changes. Although ASU was up one at a set and
match point at 24-23, a serving error and strong fight from the Phoenix
gave Elon the fourth set win at 29-27.
“This
was huge, because if we finished out winning then we got that second
spot in the SoCon tournament, and Elon was in the same boat,” Ginipro
said. “I was not surprised that it went five.”
In the
fifth and final set, Seeds came out to score five of Appalachian’s
first seven points and senior Jechorek added three kills and a block to
help lead the women to a 15-9 final victory.
Four
Mountaineer players finished with double-figure kills on the night
including a tied match-high performance by Jechorek and outside hitter
Kelly Rhein with 17 kills each.
Seeds also dominated with 13 kills for the evening and Norris matched her career-high with 11.
The women now look ahead to the 2009 SoCon Tournament where they will take on No. 1 seed Furman Saturday at noon.
“Our
first game is against Furman, and they beat us at home in five,” Norris
said. “They haven’t lost a single game in the conference, and so I
think that’s going to push us to try to be their first loss, make it to
the conference tournament finals and bring that banner back home.”
Fast Facts
• Appalachian will make its first appearance in the SoCon Tournament since 2007.
• ASU’s opponent in the 2009 SoCon Tournament, number one seeded
Furman, won the 2008 conference tournament and went undefeated during
2009 in regular-season conference play, finishing 14-0 on the season.
Photo by Jordan Paris | The Appalachian
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