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AUGUSTA, Ga. – Despite being down by two sets, the UNC Pembroke volleyball team rallied for a comeback to tie the sets a 2-2 and then used a .545 hitting percentage in the fifth set to secure the 3-2 victory over region rival Carson-Newman on Saturday at the GRU Augusta Invitational.
The victory for UNCP (3-6) extended the Braves' winning-streak to two games and snapped a two-game losing streak in the series with Carson-Newman (4-2) who fell in their second contest of the season. The set scores were 23-25, 21-25, 28-26, 25-23 and 15-9. This was the first five-setter of the season and kept UNCP perfect in five sets since defeating Francis Marion in 2013.
Four Braves tallied double-digit kills as junior Nicole Mathews led the way with 22 kills and posted her second-consecutive double-double with 20 digs. Both Jada Vernon and Cecilia Brandon tallied 17 kills, while Vernon also collected a double-double with 20 digs. Carolina Pridgen slammed down 10 kills as setter Sabrina Gonzalez controlled the pace of the offense and found perfect placement for her 58 assists.
"I told my team they needed to eliminate all their mistakes, keep their composure and they needed to stay mentally tough, strong and have confidence," said UNCP head coach Angie Byrd. "I think overall we did a good job coming back as a team."
Ka'asha Jefferies stepped in as libero and registered a game-high 35 digs, while Gonzalez was the third Brave with a double-double as she had 20 digs. Sophomore Josephine Yang put up 14 digs as the Black and Gold out-hit (75-56), out-dug (119-101) , out-assisted (66-54) the Eagles and hold Carson-Newman to a .144 hitting percentage.
UNCP played the back-and-forth game with Carson-Newman as neither team carried a big lead in set three, but with a tied 26-26 score, Byrd called a timeout and followed it up with a service ace by Yang and kill by Mathews to win set three in extra points.
In set four, Mathews gave UNCP a 13-9 lead with her serving and kills by Vernon and Brandon. UNCP refused to allow the Eagles an opportunity to take the lead and on set point, Brandon slammed down a kill in the middle of the floor to take set four. Finally in set five, Mathews reeled off seven serves and received a pair of kills from Vernon and a trio from Brandon to dust off the competition for the comeback victory.
"I kept thinking I just needed to help my team out," said Mathews. "When I'm front row I need to do what I need to do, when I'm back row I need to get a good pass in so they can produce in the front row. I kept telling them we have this point and we have this set, first pass, first kill and keep it together. We knew where we were and that if we worked together we would get the win."
UNCP regrouped from being out-hit in the first two set to then control the remaining three sets. After controlling the 16-9 lead in the first set on multiple serves by Jefferies and Gonzalez, the Eagles utilized UNCP's errors and increased their attack game to pull out the first set. Again in set two, the Black and Gold posted an 8-0 run with Jefferies serving to inch ahead after being down to start the set, but Carson-Newman took the lead and gained a 2-0 advantage after two sets.
