SEWANEE, Tenn.- Opening their season at a tournament hosted by The University of the South, Huntingdon Volleyball kicked things off with a pair of matches against the Meredith College Avenging Angels and the Mountaineers of Berea College.
The Hawks fell 3-0 in their first match of the season to Meredith, but recovered for an impressive 3-1 victory over Berea later in the afternoon.
Match One v. Meredith
The first set between the Hawks and Avenging Angels was a highly contested, back-and-forth affair, but ultimately Meredith managed to pull away for a 27-25 win. Through the early stages of the match, neither team could generate any seperation, as Cheyenne Ashworth's kill off an assist from Destin Roberts put Huntingdon down 8-7. Meredith's largest lead of the set came shortly after, as the Avenging Angels opened up a small run to lead 19-13. Three consecutive errors for Meredith gave the Hawks life, and Huntingdon's front line answered, with Aly Harris, Lily VanDyke, and Cheyanne Ashworth each recorded kills as Huntingdon fought back to claim a 20-19 lead. The two teams continued to trade blows coming down the stretch however, and with things even at 25, Meredith pulled away late to take the set.
The Avenging Angels controlled the second set from beginning to end, claiming a 25-11 victory. Meredith recorded a match-high hitting percentage(.346), taking advantage of 7 Hawk errors to go ahead 2-0.
Still reeling from the second set loss, the Hawks fell behing 4-0 to open the third set. Nonetheless, Morgan Suggs and Aly Harris continued to battle, each picking up kills to even things up at 5. Multiple Avenging Angel errors allowed for the Hawks to take their first lead of the set 12-11, but a run in response from Meredith proved to be too much for the Hawks, as Huntingdon fell 25-20 in the set and 3-0 for the match.
Match Two v. Berea
Similar to the start of the first match, Huntingdon fell 25-20 in set one to the Mountaineers. Berea opened things up with a 5-0 run to create some early seperation, but the Hawks responded with 9-2 run, claiming a 9-7 lead following kills from Lindsey Holland and Molly Wilson. Not to be outdone however, Berea answered with a 7-2 run of their own to recapture the lead, 14-11, which they never relinquished to move ahead 1-0.
In response, the Hawks recorded a match high 12 kills en route to a 25-18 second set victory to even things at one set a piece. Led by Holland, Wilson, and Harris, Huntingdon jumped out to a 5-1 early. Berea followed with a run to bring the score to 6-4, but Huntingdon kept pushing, never losing their lead en route to claiming the set. Holland continued to star coming down the stretch, picking up 3 of Huntingdon's final 5 points to secure the victory.
Huntingdon kept rolling in set three, claiming victory 25-16 to move ahead 2-1. With things even 5-5, the Hawks opened up a 5-0 run, courtesy of points from Holland and Ashworth to take the lead 10-5. Once in front, the Hawks never looked back, taking advantage of 9 Mountaineer errors while only committing two of their own to control the pace of the set.
Opening the fourth set on a 11-2 run, the Hawks claimed victory with a 25-16 set four win. Making the most of nine more Berea errors, Huntingdon's lead got as big as 14-4 following a kill from Lily VanDyke before the Mountaineers started to claw their way back into things. With the score at 16-7, Huntingdon finished strong, with two kills from Sara Cochran putting the match on ice.
Hawk Top Performers
The Hawks return to action in Sewanee tomorrow, August 30th, with matches against Brevard and Sewanee. Huntingdon battles the Tornadoes at 3:00 before facing the Tigers at 7:00.