RALEIGH, N.C. — The Walters State Lady Senators saw its three-match winning streak come to an end in Friday's opening match in the Wake Technical College Invitational, but the team got back on the winning track in the nightcap by avenging an earlier loss.
The Lady Senators opened the day with a three-set loss against Richard Bland College, falling in a tightly contested match by the scores of 25-20, 26-24 and 27-25.
The day closed for Walters State with a rematch against Spartanburg Methodist, a team the Lady Senators lost to in five sets earlier in the season. This time around, the two teams split the first two games before WSCC pulled out the win in four games by the scores of 25-21, 17-25, 25-23 and 25-13.
With the split, Walters State now stands at 5-4 on the year, while Richard Bland's win gave them a 6-4 mark and Spartanburg's loss dropped them to 3-5 on the campaign. The Lady Senators are set to face host Wake Tech (4-1) at 10 a.m. Saturday morning before facing Johnson & Wales University out of Charlotte at noon.
In the opening match, the Lady Senators could not overcome 16 kills from Harper Smith and eight from Heather Phelps of Richard Bland.
Walters State countered with seven kills and seven digs from Micayla Vallie, five kills from McKenzie Jenkins and four kills from Kaley Muncy. Courtney Dotson just missed a double-double by notching 13 assists and nine digs, while Hayley Wolfe led the team with 17 digs in the match. Sydney Hurd added six assists and Olivia Kent had two blocks in the defeat.
In the nightcap, Vallie had a monster match, posting 16 kills, 21 digs and a block in the win, while Muncy added 10 kills and Jenkins tallied seven kills in the victory. Dotson dished out 20 assists, while Hurd had 14 assists and 13 digs for a double-double. Wolfe once again led the team in digs with 19, while Lexi Wakefield added a dozen digs in the win.