Knoxville, TN – Day two of the Rocky Top Invitational began with a three set loss to Indiana State but the Eagles rebounded to finish the day with a five set win against North Florida.  

Indiana State University
Freshman, Lily Leistiko opened the match with a hard kill from the middle but once again, the Eagles could not overcome their errors as Indiana State breezed to a first set win. The second set began with a Makayla Doyle block and the Eagles and Indiana State continued to exchange points until Indiana pulled away 6-10. Siani Yamaguchi sparked a three-point run with a big block against the outside and Indiana followed with two of their own errors to cut their lead to one. Two more errors from Winthrop gave Indiana a 10-12 lead, which they held for the rest of the set. The Eagles took their first lead of the match in the third set off a resounding kill from Jace Kleffner, leading 7-4 after a serving run by Yamaguchi. Indiana State would not go away, coming back to win the set and the match 0-3. Eagles were led by the defensive efforts of Carlie Skelton, she had 16 digs for the match, 5.3 digs per set.

North Florida
The first two sets were a back and forth affair where no team could maintain a consistent lead. The first set went into extra points with North Florida eventually prevailing 28-26. The second set was all Eagles right off the get with a stuff block by Jace Kleffner. Yamaguchi went on a serving run to push the lead 17-12. North Florida chipped away at the lead, but it was not enough as the Eagles won 25-20. North Florida took the third set handedly, but the Eagles were not going away, winning the fourth and fifth set. Doyle was huge this match finishing with 15 kills and a hitting efficiency of .583. She also tallied one solo block and two block assists. Jace Kleffner delivered key points all match and came up big in the fifth set. She finished with a season high 18 kills, 8 digs, and one block assist. Carlie Skelton kept the Eagle's defense together registering 31 digs for 6.2 digs per set. Yamaguchi dished out 49 assists and 12 digs for another double-double.

Post Tournament Thoughts
"This weekend is not much different than last weekend, in that the team continued to fight until the end," said head coach Chuck Rey. "The players never gave up on themselves, the team, or the process. We continue to learn how to be consistent with not only our body, but our mind. We are one of the few programs in the country to have Dr. Schary, Winthrop's Sports Psychologist, travel with the team, and it has paid great dividends on our opening weekends against some high level competition."

"Siani took a leap forward in her mental tenacity as she stepped-up her on court leadership. Carlie was fantastic on defense, and it's great to watch Makayla continue to blossom at the division I level. But this was a team effort with so many coming in off the bench, all weekend, to contribute to our success. It's a fun group of sharp young ladies that have a desire to be great. Seems to be a trend among the Winthrop Athletic Teams and we are proud to be a part of this family."
Up Next
Next weekend the Eagles head to Greensboro, N.C to compete in a two-day tournament hosted by the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. The first match will be Friday, September 7^th at 6:00 p.m. ET against UNCG.