MORRISTOWN, TN – Walters State picked up their first win of the season on Thursday evening against the Montreat College JV team, never leaving the match in doubt with a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-17, 25-13).
With the win, the Lady Senators improve to 1-4 on the season.
For head coach Megan Blaylock, it was a satisfying win after a tough go of things to start.
"I think tonight we really minimized our errors," Blaylock said. "That's been a really big stat in our last couple of games. We've had a lot of attack errors, a lot of service errors and tonight we minimized those. It really makes a big difference when you fix that."
There were a bevy of players that played well in the match for Walters State. Most notably to Blaylock was sophomore Parker Hurd.
"Parker Hurd played really well tonight," Blaylock said. "She did great. I put her in a new position tonight, and she just rolled with it. She did excellent. She performed above the way I expected her too. She was great."
Hoping to put Tuesday's loss behind them, the Lady Senators came out firing to start the match as they got up 7-2 early. The lead would grow to 10-4 on a Jordan Moore kill and Lydia Buchanan ace.
From there, the Lady Senators were never really challenged on their way to a 25-13 set one victory. It was just the second first set won for Walters State this season, something that is extremely important for momentum early in a match.
"I think it is always good to start out strong, for them mentally especially," Blaylock said. "I think they always want to come out strong and it's a big momentum shifter when we are able to."
Using that momentum, Walters State came out firing in set two as they got up 4-1. The Lady Senators were led on the mini-run to start the set by a Bella Webb ace, kills from Moore and Mackenzie Sweigart and another ace, this time from Ashtan Vance.
Montreat would come back in the set and tie it at six before the Lady Senators got rolling again, using a kill from Hannah Freeman and an ace from Hurd to take a four-point lead. Montreat would keep it close for a while before the Lady Senators came charging again, taking the set 25-17.
In set three, it was Montreat who stole some momentum as they got up 6-1, forcing Blaylock to burn both of her timeouts early in the set. Responding to the timeouts, the Lady Senators began chipping away and got it down to 7-6.
At 7-6, the Lady Senators took the lead for good as Mattison Rowland had four aces on five points, with the other point coming on a kill from Abby Blankenship. That gave Walters State an 11-7 lead.
The lead would get up to 12 before Walters State closed out the match with a 25-13 set three win.
Up Next:
Walters State will be back in action next Tuesday when they travel to take on Chattanooga State. It's an important match for the Lady Senators as they look to avoid an 0-2 start in conference play.
"I hope that we can just build on this momentum," Blaylock said. "I hope that we can take the good things we did tonight and amplify them. I hope that we can continue to control what we can control."
Rob Harvey
Walters State Community College
Sports Information Director
Cell: (423) 779-8880
Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu
Website: www.ws.edu/athletics