Boone, N.C. – Winthrop volleyball ended the second day of the Black and Gold Invitational with a loss to host Appalachian State in straight sets, 3-0 (20-25, 18-25, 23-25) Friday afternoon.
Winthrop (2-4, 0-0 Big South) | Appalachian State (4-4, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Sep. 13, 2024 | Holmes Convocation Center
Winthrop 0, Appalachian State 3 (20-25, 18-25, 23-25)
How it Happened
Set 1 | The match started with a 6-6 deadlock with a kill by
Paige Bennett and
Avery Jolley and four App State mistakes. The home team broke the tie with three straight points before a
Giselle Little kill made it a two-point contest. After an App State point on the next play,
Rachel McCollum's two kills and an ace by
Sophia Matthews made the score 11-10 in favor of the Mountaineers. The Mountaineers then responded with six straight points to up the lead to seven.
Maeve Rehmann's kill briefly stopped the run but two plays later App State found themselves up eight points at 19-11. An error by App State and a kill by
Isabella Murray on the next two plays made it a six-point game only to have the Mountaineers score three of the next four points to restore their eight-point lead at 22-14. The Eagles would not go away quietly as an ace and a kill by
Karli Shepherd and another kill by McCollum and Little cut the deficit in half at 22-18, forcing an App State timeout. Winthrop kept the rally going, making the score 23-20 on McCollum's kill and an App State error but the Mountaineers scored the next two points to conclude the first set.
Set 2 | The Eagles jumped out to a 4-1 lead on kills by McCollum, Rehmann, Bennett and an App State error before five straight points gave the Mountaineers a 6-4 lead. Bennett's kill, two kills by Shepherd and an App State mistake tied the score at eight before four straight points by App State broke the tie. Bennett once again temporarily snuffed out the run by the home team and the Eagles continued to hang around in the frame for the next several plays, as the two teams split the next 10 points, leaving the score at 18-14 after a Shepherd kill. Little's kill on the next play made it a three-point game only for the Mountaineers to take the margin up to 23-15 on the next five plays. App State closed out the second set five plays later.
Set 3 | Winthrop led 4-2 early in the third off kills by Shepherd, Murray, Bennett and an App State error before the Mountaineers tied it at four. The Eagles re-took the lead at 13-8 on three mistakes by the Mountaineers, an ace each by Matthews and Rehmann and a kill each by Rehmann, Murray, Shepherd and McCollum, forcing an App State timeout. Winthrop then scored three of the next five points to stretch their lead to 16-10 after Bennett's kill. The Eagles stayed in control for several plays, maintaining a five-point edge on four separate occasions, the last on 20-15 after a kill by Murray. The Mountaineers scored two straight points to make it a three-point game but a kill by Little made the score 21-17 but App State scored six straight points to come all the way back to take a 23-21 lead. Bennett's kill made it a one-point deficit but a kill by App State put them within one point of winning the match. An error against the Mountaineers made it 24-23 but a kill on the next play by App State ended the night.
Top Performers
Notables
- The Eagles have played 1,808 matches all-time as the program holds a mark of 1,075-733.
- Murray is ninth in school history in assists with 2,137.
- Bennett just missed a double double with 9 kills and 10 digs.
- McCollum now has both 100 career kills and digs.
UP NEXT
Winthrop plays Clemson tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. to wrap up the Black and Gold Invitational.
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