MORRISTOWN, TN – The No. 21 ranked Walters State volleyball team has been unstoppable at home this season, and that continued on Thursday night against Roane State.  

The Lady Senators jumped out to an early 12-2 lead in the first set against the Lady Raiders and that set the tone as Walters State swept Roane State 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-19).  

"We really focused in yesterday in practice and studied our film from the last time we played Roane, and I think we executed everything we aimed to do," Walters State volleyball coach Megan Blaylock said. "We did a really good job. The girls were ready to play today. It was good."  

With the victory, Walters State remains undefeated at 5-0 and are 4-0 in the conference. The Lady Senators have also yet to drop a set at home this season.  

In the victory, Walters State served the ball much better than in previous matches, something Blaylock said they have been working a lot on in practice.  

"Right now, we are making more errors than we are aces, so we have been trying to improve that stat a little bit," Blaylock said. "I think tonight it really showed that we have been working on it a little bit."  

This was the second time that the Lady Senators have played Roane State already this season and both teams will face off two more times in the regular season. To try and catch the Lady Raiders off guard, Blaylock ran a different rotation then the first time the two teams played.  

"I am going to try and do that every time we play them going forward," Blaylock said. "I think that it will benefit us, getting everyone different types of experience in positions. And it also confuses the other team because they can't really study what we're going to do. It is definitely a benefit of having 18 players."  

Things started off quick for the Lady Senators as they went up 5-1 right out of the gate. After the Lady Raiders made it 5-2, Walters State rallied off seven straight points to make it 12-2 and force a timeout. Olivia Oxendine had back-to-back aces on that run.  

From there, the Lady Senators would continue to dominate the set and cruised to a 25-13 set one victory.  

Unlike set one, Roane State showed a little bit of fight to start set two, tying the score at three early on. However, once again it was Walters State who would take control getting out to a 12-7 lead after an ace from Amanda Singleton.  

The lead would grow to 18-10 and never got any closer as Walters State took set two 25-16.  

Whether desperate or motivated, it was Roane State that came out in set three with all the momentum, leading for the majority of the beginning of the set. The lead would grow to 12-7 before Blaylock called timeout. 

As they have done a lot this season though, the Lady Senators came out of the timeout looking like a different team. They rallied off four straight points and continued to keep it close. Then, with the set tied at 19, Walters State finally took the lead and would hold it for good, scoring the final six points of the set to close it out. Oxendine closed the match out with a kill.  

For Blaylock, she was happy to see her team battle in that third set and gut out the victory. 

"When you have to push through that type of adversity (like in the third set), it is always good in the long run," Blaylock said. "I think sometimes we let other teams play with us when we can finish it out. But on the flip side, it is good for us to fight through things."  

UP NEXT: 

Walters State will be back in action on the road on Tuesday, Feb. 16, against Chattanooga State. The match is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. In the two teams first meeting, the Lady Senators dominated with a 3-0 sweep.  

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics