Balanced Effort Gives Volleyball Sweep of UNC Wilmington
9/12/2008 4:20:00 AM | Volleyball
STATESBORO, Ga. --- The Georgia Southern volleyball team hit .297 and recorded 13 blocks in the Eagles’ 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-16) victory over UNC Wilmington Friday afternoon at the Bash in the Boro.
GSU ends a three-match losing streak to even their record at 4-4. UNCW drops to 5-2.
In the first match of the day, Eastern Michigan (3-5) had four players reach double-figure kills to defeat Charleston Southern 3-1 (25-15, 25-14, 21-25, 25-18).
“I thought it was our most disciplined effort of the season,” said GSU head coach Chad Callihan. “I thought they came out focused and I was really impressed with the little things that we took care of. That was one of the things we stressed and hadn’t been able to execute. This was the first time that we took what we’ve been doing in our training and it translated on the floor for us.”
The Eagles held the Seahawks to a .086 attack percentage (second-lowest this season by an opponent) and recorded 13 blocks ? eight assists from sophomore Michelle Uzoh (San Antonio, Texas) and five from sophomore Blaire Brueggemeyer (Burleson, Texas).
“We worked hard on our blocking this week,” said Callihan. “It had been a strength for us the first weekend and we kind of lost it last weekend ? just missing a lot of assignments and too much guessing ? so we really worked on it this week. It was good to see some of the things that we made an emphasis on at practice be our strong point today.”
Freshman Bethany Sanford (Avondale, Ariz.) recorded a match-high 11 kills and no errors and Uzoh was also flawless with six kills on 15 attempts. Nine different players tallied a kill.
“That’s exactly what we want to see,” said Callihan. “We’ve got some good young talent but we just feel like we want to spread the ball around. Bethany had a great match for us but she was a game-time decision as far as an ailment ? she had been taking it light this week ? so it forced our setters to look for some other people. Our setters gained some confidence through the week and our attackers felt more comfortable. So I think that’s why we saw the well-rounded effort as far as our attacking was concerned.”
Junior Cristin Haines (Palos Heights, Ill.) had a team-best 15 digs and Sanford completed her fourth straight double-double with 12.
The Eagles return to the court at 7 p.m. when they take on Charleston Southern.
