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Life > Athletics > Volleyball > 9/23/06
VOLLEYBALL EXTENDS HOME WINNING STREAK TO SIX
DENTON, Texas (Sept. 23) – Unbeaten in Kitty Magee Arena this year, Texas Woman’s University extended its home winning streak to six and wrapped up a three-match homestand with a 3-1 victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State Saturday evening, 30-25, 21-30, 30-14, 30-23. The Lone Star Conference win puts the Pioneers at 2-2 in the North Division with an overall record of 14-5.
“I think that we played well tonight,” Head coach Shelly Barberee said. “Southeastern has a good program this year. They have some good players. We knew that with this being Olivia’s [Franceskini] senior year that we would have to step up to stop her. And their setter [Megan Graham] is always a threat. But we played our match.”
TWU started slowly and had to play catch-up in game one. Except for the game being tied at 3-3 and 4-4, SOSU (9-8, 1-3 LSC) had the lead most of the time. The Pioneers pulled even at 20 on a big block from Kandis Schroeder. After a Savage Storm timeout, TWU took the lead for the first time on another Schroeder kill. SOSU managed to get within one at 25-24, but a combination of blocks from Nicole Everett, Jessica Crow and Madlyn Craven and SOSU errors gave TWU the win.
In game two, TWU’s hitting fell apart and the team only managed a .051 hitting percentage. It was the first game the Pioneers had lost all year at home.
“We shouldn’t have dropped game two,” Barberee said. “But we weren’t playing at all. Our offense was not there.”
After intermission, TWU came out firing in game three. The Pioneers hit .455 to the Savage Storm’s .100. TWU built a 13-point lead at 24-11 on an SOSU attack error. Again, it was Crow, Schroeder, Katie King and Nicole Everett who put the game away with key blocks in the middle and good outside hitting for a 30-14 win.
Game four was played much the same way except the Pioneers made it more interesting by letting a nine-point lead dwindle to one at 18-17. After trading kills and errors a few times, it was Krystle Everett whose kill gave TWU the match at 30-23.
Schroeder, who matched her season-best 16 kills, led the TWU offense along with Robin Hawkins who had 15 kills and three service aces. Crow recorded 45 assists and King had two solo blocks. Nicole Everett and Schroeder each had one solo block. The defensive digs were spread around - Heather Marcus with 23, Michele Villarreal with 16, Hawkins with 14, Crow with 13 and Kasye Richmond with 12.
“Once again, Kandis was strong. Robin also had a good match,” Barberee added. “It’s good that we have some non-conference matches coming up. We’ve only got one this week – at Southwestern [ Oklahoma State] on Thursday. It’s good to be in the bye week in the schedule right now.”
TWU steps outside of North Division action to play Tarleton State in Stephenville next Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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