Appalachian finishes with 3-0 victory
over UNC Greensboro Spartans
Allie
Woods Sports Beat
Peter Larkins | The Appalachian
Chrissy Finch (3) spikes the
ball against UNCG Saturday for a 3-0 victory for the final match
of Appalachian State’s season.
The Appalachian State University
women’s volleyball team wrapped up their season with a 3-0
victory over the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Saturday.
The three games were dominated by the Mountaineers
both defensively and offensively as they held the Spartans to a
.072 hitting percentage and tallied a .244 hitting percentage of
their own.
“We’ve been working a lot on our defense,”
said head coach Chris Redding. “As far as our blocking position
and digging around it and the last few matches, we’re starting
to see it pay off.”
Game one saw the Mountaineers
go down 4-1 early only to battle back and go up 9-7, forcing the
Spartans to take a time out. Appalachian would never look back,
winning the game 30-16. This game was marked by many well-placed
tip shots by ASU, as the kills were not quite clicking yet.
Game two was less finesse and more power. The Mountaineers seemed
to gain their timing at the net and began to run a quick set-play
to junior Katherine Dean and freshman Stephanie Panzer to perfection.
Also, in the second game the ASU defense started to dominate with
strong net play by Dean, Panzer and sophomore Samantha Giudici.
During one exchange, when the score was 25-19, UNCG tried to kill
the ball three consecutive plays only to be denied at the net by
Dean, Panzer or Giudici.
ASU continued to dominate at the net in game three. The Spartans
seemed to have the air taken out of their sails, and the bounce
was gone from their step midway through the game, as they had no
answer for the hitting of Appalachian. UNCG also had trouble handling
the jump serve of freshman Rebecca Sorensen, who registered three
service aces.
Dean lead Appalachian with 18 kills and a .375 hitting percentage.
“Katherine stepped up big early on,” Redding said. “She
had 14 or 15 kills at the beginning of the third. She helped open
up our whole offense at the net with that and establishing those
kills early on.”
Also playing very solid games were freshmen Kali Rumberger who had
nine kills and nine digs and Chrissy Finch who registered eight
kills and was second with 13 digs.
“They [Finch and Rumberger] have been developing all season,
attacking wise,” Redding said. “If you look statistically
over the last couple matches, they have been a lot more consistent.
Instead of one being hot and the other being off, we’re getting
more of a one-two punch.”
The Mountaineers wrapped up the sixth seed in the Southern Conference
tournament last week and will play Davidson University. Davidson
will also host this year’s tournament.
“It’s a great opportunity for an upset on their home court
and at the SoCon,” Redding said.
The tournament begins Friday, and ASU begins their run at the conference
championship at 7:30 p.m.
