MORRISTOWN, Tenn. — For the fifth straight match and the eighth time in their last nine wins, the Walters State volleyball team was not forced to a fourth game.
The Lady Senators posted yet another sweep Thursday night, this time taking down Montreat College's junior varsity team in three games inside 'Z' Buda Gymnasium and Assembly Hall. Walters State won the first two games by matching scores of 25-20 before taking the third and final set 25-18 to close out the victory.
With the win, Walters State improves to 14-7 overall, and it was the 11th sweep of the season for the Lady Senators.
The loss dropped the Lady Cavaliers to 1-4 on the year. It was their fourth straight loss, which includes a 3-1 loss to Walters State on Sept. 13.
Micayla Vallie led WSCC with 10 kills in the match, while Mckenzie Jenkins had 8 kills, Courtney Dotson added 7 kills and Kaley Muncy had 6 in the win. Sydney Hurd dished out 16 assists, while Dotson recored 13 helpers. Hayley Wolfe tallied 12 digs and Vallie added 10, and the team had 10 aces, including 3 each from Muncy and Dotson.
"We have to start better than we did tonight," Walters State coach Megan Blaylock said. "I don't want to have to call timeouts early on just to get their attention. But give our team credit because they responded and played pretty well. It was better competition tonight, and it took us a little bit to get going, but I was proud of how we were able to play tonight and get a sweep against a pretty good team."
Montreat led early on in the first game, but the Lady Senators pulled ahead on back-to-back kills from Olivia Kent and Vallie in a 5-0 run to make it 9-6. The lead never stretched further than four until the closing point of the game, and a 19-15 lead actually was erased by a 4-0 run from the Lady Cavaliers to tie it at 19. Muncy and Jenkins both had kills in a closing 6-1 run, and Muncy provided a block for the final point in the 25-20 win.
The second game saw Walters State pull out to an 8-2 lead early behind a kill and two aces from Muncy, and the margin grew to 24-13 before the visitors scored seven straight points to make things interesting, but the Lady Senators got the final point to win again, 25-20.
WSCC grabbed a 4-1 lead in the third game and never trailed despite Montreat keeping it close. The Lady Senators did pull ahead 21-13 on an ace from Ashley Delph, and kills from Vallie and Dotson late in the match helped Walters State close the match out with a 25-18 victory.
The Lady Senators return to the road on Wednesday when they head to Dayton to take on Bryan College for a 6:30 p.m. matchup. The next home game will be a doubleheader on Saturday, Oct. 13, when they host Patrick Henry and Cleveland State.