RELATED: Volleyball Snaps Skid With Five-Set Victory Over Georgia College
PEMBROKE – Finishing out the home portion of its 2014 regular season schedule, the UNC Pembroke volleyball team used a .189 hitting percentage and 39 kills to shutout Fayetteville State, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon in regional play inside the English E. Jones Center.
UNCP (16-19) claimed its second-consecutive victory and matched the same number of wins from the 2013 season, while also sweeping the Broncos (14-7) this season and extending its winning streak to four games in the series with an overall 48-7 record.
Junior Nicole Mathews was the only Braves to post a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs, as Cecilia Brandon and Jada Vernon finished the contest with nine and eight kills, respectively. Sabrina Gonzalez logged 34 of the 35 total assists, while Danielle Brown tallied 21 digs and Josephine Yang totaled 11. Freshman Mallory Davis led the squad with four block assists.
"My team performed excellent," said Vernon. "We performed great as a whole and all came together when it really mattered. We played very scrappy and aggressive, and I think what motivated us is that we decided to play for each other instead of playing for ourselves."
In the opening set, both teams paced each other to the 11-11 mark until a kill by Vernon gave UNCP final lead. Using a 7-2 run, the Braves pulled ahead 18-13 and forced Fayetteville State to use a time out, however, the Black and Gold were too far ahead to catch and finished set one with a 25-21 win on a block assist by Gonzalez and Davis.
Gonzalez stepped up to serve at the 16-13 mark in the second set and supplied the next 10 serves for the 2-0 set advantage as Fayetteville State hit -.075 and totaled 13 errors in the set alone. Finally in the third set, UNCP opened up with a speedy 10-2 lead and refused to allow the Broncos the opportunity to comeback as a kill by freshman Jamee Bird closed out the match.
The Black and Gold will return to action on Friday with a 7 p.m. contest against Peach Belt Conference foe Columbus State (11-14, 6-9 PBC) inside the Frank G. Lumpkin Jr. Center.
