College of Charleston
New Mexico
Volleyball Drops Two at SMU Classic
9/20/2014 3:06:00 AM | Volleyball
DALLAS, TEXAS – College of Charleston volleyball fought valiantly on Friday in the opening rounds of the SMU Classic, but were ultimately befallen by two very good teams in New Mexico and Southern Methodist University.
Coming in to Friday's action, the Cougars had won six of their previous eight matches including claiming top honors at the home-hosted CofC Invitational one week ago. In Dallas, however, the Cougars found the sledding to be much more difficult as New Mexico and SMU both managed to escape with victories.
There were some bright spots for The College as CAA Offensive Player of the Week Cara Howley and junior team captain Melissa Morello combined for 22 and 23 kills, respectively. Morello also racked up 32 digs on the day, while senior libero Andi Zbojniewicz dug up 30 of her own. Per usual, the Cougars were led in assists by 2013 conference setter-of-the-year, Kallie McKown, who managed 43 assists (7.16 assists/set).
“At times, we played some of the best volleyball we've played all season,” said head coach Jason Kepner. “However, we far too often countered it with error prone, inconsistent play that ultimately led to us playing from behind way too much. We always battled back and put ourselves in positions to be successful, but we were just too inconsistent.”
The Cougars opened the day with the tournament's early match, a late morning clash with the New Mexico Lobos. Tight early in the first, the Cougars quickly forced the Lobos to take a timeout after going up 8-5, courtesy of three UNM attack errors and back-to-back kills from freshman Krissy Mummey and junior outside Kari Fidelholtz. The set stayed close from there, teetering back and forth until the Cougars gave the Lobos an opening at 23-20 following two CofC hitting errors. At set point, the Cougars then served out to hand the Lobos the opening game.
After New Mexico ran away with the second stanza, the Cougars showed grit and determination in the third game, hitting .265 and playing good team defense to claw back in to the action with a 25-19 victory.
In the deciding fourth game, however, the Cougars couldn't quite muster enough strength and the Lobos took the set and the match, 3-1 (25-23, 25-`15, 19-25, 25-17).
In the nightcap, the Cougars took on the host Mustangs of Southern Methodist University in front of a decidedly home crowd at Moody Coliseum. Despite SMU coming in to the match with only one loss on the season, and boasting wins over Arkansas, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma, the Cougars came out firing in the opening frame, overcoming an early eight point disadvantage to bring the game to within one at 21-20 following a kill from sophomore Maddie Hills. The Cougars couldn't quite manage the surprise though, as SMU rattled off three straight, eventually claiming the first set, 25-22.
After falling in similar circumstances in the second, the Cougars then faced a must win third game. Again, the Cougars overcame a large early deficit to bring themselves back in to the action at 20-18, but despite four kills from Morello and a couple of blocks from Mummey and senior Sloane White, the Cougars dropped the set and the match, 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-22).
“I thought both New Mexico and SMU played well today,” said Kepner. “With that being said, we'll need to regroup and focus our attention to Houston Baptist now so we can get out of the tournament with one win. We'll need to be at our best.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO TOMORROW'S TOURNAMENT FINALE:
For the first time in program history, the College of Charleston volleyball team will take on Houston Baptist tomorrow in the Cougars final match of the match of the SMU Classic. HBU also dropped both of their opening two matches against New Mexico and SMU in straight sets on Friday.
Here is a quick look at the opposition:
Houston Baptist (1:00 p.m. Friday)
Location: Houston, Texas
Conference: Southland
2014 Record: 5-8
2013 Record: 15-18 (9-9 Southland)
Series History vs. CofC: First meeting between two teams
Players to Watch: Jessica Wooten & Kayla Armer
2014 Preseason Conference Poll Placement: 6th/13
CONNECTING WITH THE COUGARS
For all of the latest news and information on Cougar volleyball, you can follow the program @CofCVolleyball and @CofCSports or follow the team on Facebook here
