MORRISTOWN, TN – No. 20 Walters State opened their season on Friday afternoon in the Walters State Invitational, falling to both Spartanburg Methodist and Itawamba Community College, 3-2. 

The Lady Senators will have one more match in the Invitational on Saturday when they take on Itawamba again at 1 p.m. 

"I'm disappointed, but I think this leaves a lot of room for growth," Walters State coach Megan Blaylock said. "A lot of it was nerves but we have several areas to improve on. It was good competition for our opening day, and I'm proud that the girls played hard.  

"We will get back to the drawing board next week in practice and really take a look at our defense. But I'm glad we are back on the court tomorrow and hopefully we can make some needed adjustments. It wasn't the outcome we wanted, but I'm optimistic moving forward."  

The Lady Senators were led in both matches by sophomores Lydia Buchanan and Mackenzie Sweigart as well as freshman Jordan Moore who was a force at the net for the Lady Senators all throughout both matches. The Lady Senators also had a mix of sophomores and freshmen make significant plays throughout both matches. 

Match One: Spartanburg Methodist 3, Walters State 2 (22-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 17-15) 

It was a quick start to the opening match for the Lady Senators as they took set one fairly easy. However, Spartanburg Methodist would not go away and came out on-top in a five-set thriller. 

In set one, Walters State traded the lead to start before scoring seven straight to take a 10-3 lead. Spartanburg Methodist ended the run with a point, but the Lady Senators rallied off two more points to lead by eight.  

Spartanburg Methodist slowly climbed their way back into the match, making it 13-9 at one point before the Lady Senators took control back and went up 17-10 and then 20-12, forcing a Spartanburg Methodist timeout. 

Walters State continued their assault out of the timeout and had set point at 24-16. The Lady Pioneers got it close, making it 24-22 before Walters State was finally able to close it out.  

Set two saw much of the same to start as the Lady Senators scored the first two points before Spartanburg Methodist took the lead. Once again, the two teams traded points before Walters State led from the 9-8 point until the Lady Pioneers tied it at 20-20. From there, Spartanburg scored five straight points to take the set and even the match at one.  

Much like the first two sets, the Lady Senators were on the attack early and broke out a five-point lead at 14-9. However, the Lady Pioneers wouldn't go away again and tied the set at 15, 16, 17,18 and 19 before the Lady Senators finally closed it out with a 25-21 win to go up 2-1.  

Trying to close it out, the Lady Senators took a back seat to the Lady Pioneers instead in set four as Spartanburg Methodist scored four straight points at 14-14 to take control. They would take set four, 25-18.  

In the deciding set, Spartanburg Methodist took control early, going up 11-4 before Walters State seemed to shake off the cobwebs. The Lady Senators cut the score to 11-8 and then tied the match at 14. The teams would trade points until it was 15-15 when the Lady Pioneers scored twice to close the match out.  

Match Two: Itawamba Community College 3, Walters State 2 (22-25, 21-25, 25-15, 23-25, 15-11) 

It was another five-set thriller for the Lady Senators that saw them battle back from down two sets to one and force a deciding fifth set.  

In set one, Itawamba set the tone early as they never trailed and got up 19-10. While the Lady Senators fought back and made in 23-22 at one point, Itawamba closed it out with a 25-22 set victory.  

The second set was very similar to the first, however, it was Walters State who led for the majority of the set. The Senators jumped out to an early 3-1 lead and held on as they took the set 25-21 to even the match up. 

In the third set, the Lady Senators fell back to earth as Itawamba dominated from start to finish for a 25-15 win. However, Walters State would not back down and instead held strong with a 25-23 set four victory to send the match to a deciding fifth set. 

In the fifth set though, Walters State, like the fifth set against Spartanburg Methodist, fell behind and a last-ditch effort came close but not close enough as they fell 15-11.  

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics