MORRISTOWN, TN – After receiving their highest ranking in program history earlier in the week, No. 13 Walters State showed they were no joke, Thursday night.

After a somewhat close start to the first set, the Lady Senators jumped all over Roane State, who is second in the conference, the rest of the way, completing one of their more dominant 3-0 (25-13, 25-11, 25-9) sweeps of the season.

"That's incredible," Walters State coach Megan Blaylock said. "We've been trying to get to this point for a long time, and I think it's finally falling together. That was incredible. They played great."

With the win, Walters State improves to 12-1 on the season and remains perfect in conference play at 9-0.

While the Lady Senators have played well all season, they might be peaking at the right time as they close in on postseason play.

"I hope we are about to hit our peak and finish it out the way we are playing right now," Blaylock said. "I hope this does last because it's been really good the past couple of weeks."

Walters State came into the week after suffering their first loss of the season last Friday against DI No. 19 Wallace State, a match in which they took the first two sets. While the loss stung, Blaylock feels that match against a very good team and their sweep of Spartanburg Methodist earlier that day, has helped them already and will continue to help them as the season winds down.

"It was a game changer," Blaylock said. "That was the best thing we have done is go play some good, high-level competition. It shows what your weaknesses are, and we have worked on those. You can just tell that it was a game changer."

While the match was dominant from Walters State, Roane State kept with them in the first set for a bit. The match was tied at three before Walters State scored two straight to take the lead. The Lady Senators struggled to grow their lead for a bit and had it at 10-7 before they pulled away, going up 20-10. From there, Walters State cruised, taking the first set 25-13.

Set two, the Lady Senators came out with a bang and scored the first nine points of the match. Those points were all during Taylor Tigue's serve. Roane State would finally get on the board with a point, but Walters State then scored three straight points to go up 12-1. Walters State never let up from there, easily taking the set 25-11.

Then, in the final set, the Lady Senators one-upped themselves as they scored the first 10 points of the set, all on Tigue's serve once again. Walters State would just keep growing the lead and had it at 17-3 before easily dispatching the Lady Raiders 25-9.

While there were some standouts in the match, Blaylock said that it was a complete team performance that led to the dominating win.

"I think it was everyone (who contributed)," Blaylock said. "Every single person that got on the floor contributed in a positive way. That might be the first time that has happened this season. That was incredible."

UP NEXT:

Walters State closes out the regular season next week with two matches, one home and one away. On Tuesday, they will travel to Chattanooga State. That match is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

"We just need to keep it rolling," Blaylock said. "That's all we have talked about the last couple of days is to just finish. We can't start off as strong as we've had and not finish it."

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics