MOBILE, Ala. (October 19, 2021) – The Spring Hill College (SHC) volleyball team found themselves in a dogfight with non-conference rival the William Carey University (WCU) Crusaders on Tuesday night at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center, but survived the battle to take a 3-1 (27-25; 21-25; 25-12; 25-23) victory.
The Crusaders (13-9) and the Badgers fought for every point in the first set as Carey rallied late to turn a 21-18 deficit into a 25-24 advantage. A set-winning service ace from
Emily Weinzapfel followed consecutive kills from
Allison Weimer and
Olivia Peyton, however, as the Badgers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
WCU once again rallied from down 8-5 to claw out a 17-14 lead in the second set, but the Badgers managed to fill the hole down to a 20-19 Crusader lead. Nonetheless, Carey regained their composure to win five of the next seven points and tie the match 1-1 with a 25-21 victory.
The Crusaders had poked the bear and the Badgers responded with a commanding 25-12 win in the third set.
The fourth set saw SHC rush out to a 7-2 lead and it appeared the Crusaders had called it a night, but Carey found a second wind, surprising the Badgers with a run that put the visitors from Hattiesburg, Miss. in the lead at 13-10. It looked as if the teams were headed to a fifth-set tiebreaker when WCU sat atop a 20-17 cushion, but once again, SHC got off the mat to claw back to a 23-22 edge.
Carey used a kill from Logan Hamlin to tie the set at 23-23, but a kill from middle hitter
Kassandra Fairly off an assist from her sister Jessica was followed by a kill from Weinzapfel via a set from
Mikayla Boyer that ended the set at 25-23 in favor of the Badgers.
SHC hit for a .204 (57-18-191) attack percentage while gathering 53 assists, seven aces, 86 digs, and four (0-8) blocks.
Kassandra Fairly had 21 kills with a .375 (21-3-48) attack percentage and two assisted blocks.
Jessica Fairly passed out 28 assists while
Grace Harris added 19 more. Libero
Taylor Fontenelle recorded two aces, 23 digs, and 25 receptions as Boyer scooped up 27 receptions and 18 digs. Weinzapfel did a little of everything with eight kills, two aces, 18 receptions and 16 digs.
Hamlin had 12 kills to pace the Crusaders, who built an overall .162 (51-22-179) attack percentage with 48 assists, five aces, 92 digs, and four (2-4) blocks.
The victory also gave SHC head coach
Peggy Martin her 1,398
th career win with three regular season matches remaining on the schedule.
The Badgers (23-5; 16-0 SIAC) will take their final regular season road trip of 2021 on Friday when they visit the Albany State University (ASU) Golden Rams (12-10; 9-3 SIAC) for a non-conference tilt at 6 p.m. (east) at the Jones Brothers HPER Center in Albany, Ga.
