PEMBROKE – After claiming an impressive 3-2 victory on Friday in Peach Belt Conference action, the UNCP volleyball team echoed a similar performance in the 3-2 victory over rival Montevallo on Saturday afternoon as the Lady Braves claimed the third seed in the conference with the win.
Senior Rebecca Morgan posted her second consecutive double-double as she tallied 20 kills and 21 digs, while Heather Bolwerk led the team with a .423 hitting percentage as she registered 14 kills on 26 attempts.
The Lady Braves (15-15, 7-7 PBC) saw an uncanny occurrence as UNCP and Montevallo (13-17, 4-10) combined for seven tied scores and three lead changes. Morgan used three-straight serving opportunities to put the Lady Braves ahead at the 13-10 mark in game one. UNCP claimed game one with a score of 25-19 before Montevallo controlled game two from the start as the Falcons registered the 25-20 win in game two.
Game three was started on a kill by Morgan, but the Falcons showed a fierce offense in taking the 25-14 win. Games four and five were a sheer domination by the Black and Gold as the Lady Braves allowed the Falcons to score 16 points over the two matches for scores of 25-13 and 15-3, respectively.
Setter Ashlyn Rebok served the first six points of game five to put the Black and Gold ahead 5-1 before Morgan used eight serves to bring the score to 13-2. The Lady Braves finished the match on a kill by senior Tricia Varno, while Bolwerk totaled four kills in game five.
Rebok dished out 53 assists and 15 digs for her second-consecutive double-double, while Hannah Hill slammed down 12 kills and Marissa Baker was behind 22 digs. Hill stuffed Montevallo with three solo blocks, while Rebok and Morgan grabbed two each.
"I am very pleased because we were down 2-1 after the third set and we didn't have much life and energy, but after a few subs we came back victorious," said UNCP head coach Jeff Billington. "Morgan had a wonderful night last night and she followed it up with another great game."
Montevallo had three Flacons register double-digit kills and double-digit digs. The Falcons were held to a .180 hitting percentage as the Lady Braves posted a .266 hitting percentage. UNCP had a 100 percent side out percentage in game five and an overall 61 percent sideout percentage.
Billington said, "We are pretty confident going into the conference tournament because we have won the last four games."
This regular season finish for UNCP is the best finish in 16 years since the team was under coach Dawn Langley in 1994, and third best finish since joining the PBC in 1992.
UNCP will next be in action on November 11 when the team will compete in the opening round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament in Augusta, Ga., as the Black and Gold will face the No. 6 seed Francis Marion (12-17, 4-10) at 3 p.m.
