ELIZABETH CITY – The UNCP women's volleyball team posted a quick shutout over host Elizabeth City State, 3-0, as the game lasted a little more than an hour on Tuesday evening in the R.L. Vaughan Center.
The Lady Braves (3-2) were unstoppable at the net as the Black and Gold registered 45 kills on 111 attacks for a .243 hitting percentage on the way to a straight-set victory. UNCP held a more than a 50 percent sideout percentage while tallying eight services aces, 46 digs, 10 block assists and one solo block.
UNCP garnered its fifth-straight win going undefeated in the series with Elizabeth City State (1-3) since the series started in 1999. The Vikings began game one tallying the first two points until senior Tiara Anderson sent a speeding attack over the net for a kill to start the UNCP momentum. Freshman Chelsea Phillips tied the score at 2-2 with a kill, and then took the lead in the next play with a service ace. Game one remained close until the Black and Gold gathered five points off the Vikings' errors to bring the score to 19-14 and ultimately to a 25-19 victory.
Game two brought a relentless squad on the court as the Lady Braves averaged more than four points per each point by Elizabeth City State. The Black and Gold sealed game two with a 25-6 victory and game three with a 25-20 win. A service error caused the Lady Braves to score the first point in game three, but the Vikings would try to make a comeback as there were four tied scores and four lead changes. Transfer Sarah Bower sealed the win for the squad with a final kill off the assist from senior Heather Bolwerk.
Newcomer Chelsea Phillips shared the match high nine kills on 26 attempts (.192) while Anderson also totaled nine kills on 17 attempts (.412). Rebecca Morgan collected eight kills while Trisha Varno added seven.
Transfer Ashlyn Rebok and Bolwerk grabbed 16 and 22 assists, respectively. Sophomore Marissa Baker held a team-best 14 digs while Phillips and Rebok registered eight and seven, respectively. Senior Shay Peterson was the only Lady Brave to post a solo block while Phillips tallied three block assists. Anderson and Varno collected two bock assists apiece.
Elizabeth City State totaled 21 kills on 89 attempts for a .067 team hitting percentage while recording 19 assists, 44 digs and 12 total blocks. Whitney Green led the team with nine kills while Oasis Ellison tallied 13 digs.
The Lady Braves will travel to the Eckerd College Classic to battle Palm Beach Atlantic and Millersville on Friday at 12:45 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively, and will return on Saturday to face Barry at 10:30 a.m. and Eckerd at 5:15 p.m. All games will be played in the McArthur Center in St. Petersburg, Fla.
