Gainesville, Fla. – Winthrop fell to Sacramento State on the second day of the Gator Invitational by a final score of 3-2 (25-20, 25-18, 13-25, 20-25, 9-15).
Winthrop (0-8, 0-0 Big South) | Sacramento State (6-3, 0-0 Big Sky)
Sep. 8, 2023 | Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center
Winthrop 2, Sacramento State 3 (25-20, 25-18, 13-25, 20-25, 9-15)
How it Happened
Set 1 | The Eagles exploded with a huge offensive outburst to start the afternoon, jumping out to a 13-3 lead before you could blink your eye.
Karli Shepherd led the initial Winthrop attack with four aces, including three in a row. It appeared Winthrop would run away with the set but the Hornets went on a big run themselves by cutting the deficit in half, scoring 10 of the next 14 points and making the score 17-13.
Rachel McCollum finally ended the run with a kill and on the next play
Madison Gorniak got an ace to put Winthrop up six. After SSU got a point, Shepherd took it back to six at 20-14 on a kill. The Hornets then cut it down to four but
Avery Jolley's kill and an error by the Hornets restored the six-point lead for the Eagles. SSU cut it to four one more time at 24-20 but Shepherd's kill resulted in Winthrop winning the set.
Set 2 | The two teams started the second set by splitting the first ten points. Winthrop broke the early tie on five errors by SSU, an ace by
Isabella Murray, a kill and an ace by Jolley and a kill by McCollum to seize a 13-9 lead. This forced the Hornets to temporarily stop the match. Then with the Eagles up 15-10 after a bad set committed by SSU, the Hornets cut it three with a small 4-2 run but kills by Jolley and
Teagan Sychterz took the Eagle lead back up to five at 19-14 and SSU stopped play once again. After the timeout, SSU scored three of the next five points to make it a 21-17 game but it was too little too late for them as Winthrop scored four of the final five points of the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set 3 | Sacramento State started the third set with a 6-0 lead before an error by the Hornets got the Eagles on the board. The Hornets eventually took a 16-3 lead several plays later, putting Winthrop in a huge hole that they weren't able to recover from in the set. Winthrop did cut it to nine later on in the set at 20-11 with a kill by Jolley, two kills by Sychterz, a kill by Shepherd and two SSU errors but SSU's hot start gave them their first win of the match and forced a fourth set.
Set 4 | The Eagles and the Hornets split the first 28 points to begin the fourth set with Winthrop's points coming as a result of six SSU errors, three kills each by Thomas and Jolley, and a kill and an ace by Shepherd. The Hornets finally broke the deadlock by going up 19-15 on the next couple of plays, forcing Winthrop to call a timeout. Then up 22-17, Winthrop rallied to cut it to two on kills by Thomas, Shepherd and a SSU error. But it wouldn't be enough as the Hornets scored the final three points to force the deciding fifth set.
Set 5 | Four SSU errors and kills by Thomas and Sychterz represented Winthrop's points in an early 6-6 tie to begin the final set. Three points by SSU broke the tie, putting them up 9-6. Thomas got a kill on the next play to cut the deficit to two but a kill by SSU took their lead back up to three, forcing Winthrop to call a timeout. The Hornets then ended the match by scoring five of the final seven points.
Statistical Leaders
Avery Jolley (14 kills, 2 blocks, 14 digs)
Karli Shepherd (9 kills, 5 aces, 2 assists)
Notables
- The Eagles have played 1,782 matches all-time as the program holds a mark of 1,058-724.
- Jolley led the Eagles in kills with 14.
- Shepherd led the Eagles in aces with five.
- Thomas led the Eagles in blocks with four.
- Murray led the Eagles in assists with 42.
- Alyah Cadavid led the Eagles in digs with 19.
- Three Eagles were in double figures in digs.
UP NEXT
The Eagles face nationally third-ranked and undefeated Florida tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. This represents the highest-ranked opponent the Eagles have ever faced.
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