PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke volleyball team was resilient through five sets, and used a total team effort to shock the second-best team in the Peach Belt Conference, Francis Marion, on Tuesday night inside of the English E. Jones Center.
Tonight the Lady Braves (12-17, 3-11) donned pink and white jerseys in support of Breast Cancer Awareness for their annual Think Pink match. The squad collected over $1,000 for the cause and set a UNCP volleyball attendance record with 1,367 fans in attendance.
The Lady Braves, who snap a five-game losing streak with tonight's triumph, withstood a fourth-set comeback attempt by Francis Marion (17-5, 9-4) to beat the Patriots, 20-25, 27-25, 25-18, 13-25 and 15-10. With the UNCP win, Francis Marion has now lost three of its last four PBC contests.
"We started off a little slow like always, but we turned up the intensity in sets two and three. We had a big performance tonight out of Caroline Pridgen, she hit double-digits for us and did a great job blocking," said UNCP head coach Angie Byrd. "We told them it was going to come down to the wire, the game was going to come down to who made the least mistakes, and we made the least mistakes."
Pridgen turned in the strongest performance of the night, finishing with 19 kills for a .500 hitting percentage. UNCP had two players register double-doubles, as Marissa Baker (10 kills, 20 digs) and Sabrina Gonzalez (12 kills, 18 digs), made major contributions in the five-set victory.
Shekinah-Joy Toloumu, who leads the PBC in assists (883), totaled 55 assists in tonight's outing to help set the pace for a UNCP attack that finished with a .225 hitting percentage.
Defensively, the Lady Braves tallied eight team blocks, including solo blocks from Pridgen and Cecilia Brandon, while Danielle Brown matched a team-best 20 digs. Brown currently leads the league in digs with 501, and Brandon is second in the conference in total blocks with 76.
Francis Marion was led by Alexzandra Reed and Emily Sears, who notched 18 kills and 16 kills, respectfully. Kailey Smith dished out 52 assists and Rebekah Davis recorded a match-high 29 digs in the Patriots' setback.
The Patriots took the first set thanks to a near-perfect attack, as Francis Marion commit just two attack errors in its opening set victory.
UNCP answered back in set number two with 16 kills and a .433 team hitting percentage. With the set tied at 23-23, the Lady Braves prevailed through a back-and forth battle that saw three set-point attempts to claim the second game. The Black and Gold dominated the third frame, never allowing the Patriots to take the lead. Brandon closed out the third set for UNCP, with two kills to earn the final points.
The fourth set began with the momentum still in favor of UNCP, but multiple errors allowed Francis Marion to slowly come back and take control. A 9-0 serving run from Paige Perreault helped to surge the Patriots' offense and force a deciding fifth set.
UNCP jumped out to a 6-1 lead over the Patriots in the final stanza, but Francis Marion worked its way back in to set by scoring five-straight points. The Lady Braves overcame the Patriots' rally to take the fifth set after a kill from Sarah Bower secured match point for the Black and Gold.
The Lady Braves will be back in action on November 6th in a pair of road contests against regional rivals, Elizabeth City State (9-8) and Virginia State (13-7). UNCP will first travel to Elizabeth City for a 2p.m. contest with the Lady Vikings in the RL Vaughan Center, followed by a 7 p.m. match up with the Trojans (13-7) in Ettrick Va., inside of the Daniel Gym.
To watch the full game click HERE.
