CLINTON, S.C. - Three Presbyterian College student-athletes recorded
double-doubles Saturday afternoon, lifting the Blue Hose to a 3-1 victory over
Radford in the team's season finale. Set scores were 25-10, 22-25, 26-24,
25-18.
The Blue
Hose end the season at 12-19 and 7-9 in Big South Conference play. Radford
falls to 12-20 overall and 2-14 in league play.
Rookie Presley Mabrey led the way with a game-high 15 kills and 10 digs. She
chipped in two block assists. Junior Lisa Shelley tallied 14 kills and 15 digs
in the contest. Redshirt-junior Kilee Ruppe posted 54 assists, 12 digs, three
aces, two kills and two block assists in the match.
Junior Amanda Kettles powered home 13 kills while Lindsey Harris notched 12.
Freshman Allison Brown tallied seven kills with no errors for a .636 attack
percentage. She was busy on defense too, stuffing a team-best five shots, one
of which was solo.
Defensively, Elizabeth Heineman recorded a match-high 16 digs. Carolyn Fabros added
nine digs while Ashley Dunlap had five digs.
In what
turned out to be the deciding set, PC jumped out to a 14-8 lead on an attack
error by Radford. The team was never seriously threatened - and led by at least
two points since the 4-2 mark of the set.
Up 23-17, Kettles slammed home a Ruppe pass to give the team match point.
However, an error gave the ball back to Radford. Desiree Aramburu's serve was
passed to Ruppe, who found Kettles once again, who promptly finished the season
in style, giving the Blue Hose a 25-18 win.
PC jumped
out to a quick 1-0 set lead after scoring 16 of the fist 22 points in set one.
Harris got things started with a kill to open the match. Shelley scored the
second point and Harris and Kettles teamed up for a block to go up 3-0. From
that point forward, the set was all PC.
Up 16-7, the Blue Hose reeled off six straight points. Harris started things
with a kill. Then Ruppe found Shelley twice and Kettles once, forcing a
time-out. Out of the break, Mabrey drilled a serve for an ace. Shelley then
scored another point to go up 22-7. Harris and Brown quickly ended the set
after a service error gave PC the ball back up 23-10.
Radford responded with a solid second set. PC was up 9-7, but the Highlanders
went on a 5-0 spurt to go up 12-9. PC tried to draw even with the team and
finally did on an attack error, putting the score at 22-22.
However, Lauren Clary recorded a kill and then back-to-back service aces by the
visitors ended the set with RU winning 25-22.
Out of the
intermission, PC found itself down 4-0. However, the resilient attack helped
the team score six straight points to take the lead. During the run, Kettles
pounded home two kills while Harris had one.
The teams battled back-and-forth with neither team taking a large lead. With
Radford up 21-19, PC turned to Mabrey, who answered the bell with back-to-back
kills. Ruppe then found Kettles, who gave the Blue Hose a 22-21 lead. Harris
then found Mabrey for another kill, putting the score at 23-21.
The Highlanders battled back to tie the score at 24 apiece on a PC attack
error. With the team having to win by two, Ruppe found Shelley on back-to-back
plays, giving the Blue Hose a 26-24 victory.
The win was in front of 183 fans, including a large contingent in the student
section, which has been appropriately named "Smash Town, in conjunction with PC's
volleyball motto this year.
Head coach
Chris Belshe's team does not graduate any student-athlete this season and has
inked three standouts for next year's squad.
