SPARTANBURG, SC — No. 17 Walters State traveled to South Carolina on Friday, taking on Spartanburg Methodist and Wallace State. 

The Lady Senators easily dispatched of Spartanburg Methodist 3-0 before falling in a tight match to Wallace State 3-2. 

With the split, Walters State moves to 11-1 on the season. 

No. 17 WALTERS STATE 3, SPARTANBURG METHODIST 0

Walters State came out firing in their first match of the afternoon, jumping all over Spartanburg Methodist in set one. The Lady Senators took set one 25-16. 

In set two, the two teams battled for the majority of the set as neither team could take control. With the score tied late, the Lady Senators took control and won the set 25-22. 

Set three was more of the same as there wasn't much separation. Finally, Walters State closed the match out with a 25-19 win. 

"We played extremely well and very efficiently," head coach Megan Blaylock said. "Kenzie Sweigart played awesome and was a huge offensive advantage for us. Our last few practices have focused heavily on defense and our block. I could tell we've been working on it, our defense was solid tonight. Overall, I'm very happy we performed well against a good squad."

No. 19 WALLACE STATE 3, WALTERS STATE 2

Match two was the toughest test of the season for the Lady Senators and they responded about as well as they possibly could. 

Facing the No. 19 team in D1, Wallace State came into the match 13-0. And while they kept that undefeated record, the Lady Senators gave them all they could handle. 

Walters State not only took the first two sets but easily handled Wallace State to go up 2-0. 

Wallace State rallied to tie the match to set up a deciding fifth set. Walters State gave them a battle, but Wallace State prevailed. 

"We had no expectations going in to this match other than playing hard and playing together," Blaylock said. "We competed with a very strong top 20 D1 juco. Five set matches are always hard especially when it doesn't fall your way. I'm just incredibly proud of the heart we played with. You can't coach athletes to play with heart, they either have it or they don't. This group is special and I know we'll take this loss and use it to continue to improve."

UP NEXT

Walters State will be back in action on Tuesday , traveling to take on Cleveland State. The match is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. 

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics