ANDERSON, S.C. – Senior right-side hitter Regan Duty led all players with a career-high 20 kills to help lift Anderson past Mars Hill, 3-1 (25-12, 19-25, 25-19, 25-14) in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action, Saturday afternoon at the Abney Athletic Center.
"It was a great way to start off the home portion of our schedule against a good Mars Hill team," said Anderson head coach Todd Hay. "We had some outstanding individual performances today and hopefully we can learn more each day what it takes to be a champion."
Anderson (8-4, 3-1 SAC) has won four of its last five outings, while Mars Hill (10-4, 2-3 SAC) has dropped two of its last three decisions.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Duty tallied her career-high effort after committing just four errors in 35 swings for a .457 hitting percentage, while adding a pair of block assists. Sophomore Sadie Kluner equaled her career-high with 13 kills on a stellar .306 attacking accuracy, while coming up with four digs.
Senior outside hitter Maya Learmonth posted 10 kills, a pair of digs and two blocks, with junior setter Madison Roy equaling her career-best by dishing out 53 assists for the second straight match and adding 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the campaign. She also chipped in three block assists.
Freshman Hannah Neff recorded a season-high 11 digs after coming up with 10 last Wednesday at Newberry. The Fort Mill native also notched three service aces on the afternoon, while senior Meghan DeVaux recorded a career-high 27 digs. Junior Lindsay McCurley equaled her season-high with 15 digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
Duty and Jaelyn Grimm led the Trojans with four kills apiece, with AU notching a .429 hitting percentage.
The set was tied just twice, with Grimm's first kill of the afternoon snapping a 2-2 deadlock and sparking a 10-4 scoring run by the Trojans. After building the 12-6 advantage, AU never trailed again and built a double-digit, 19-9, cushion on Kluner's second kill.
Second Set
Duty again had four kills, with Liliana Kinder also notching four kills during the frame, but the Trojans committed nine of their 25 attack errors during the frame and hit just .143.
With the score deadlocked at seven apiece, Mars Hill rattled off a 6-2 scoring surge to gain a lead that they would not relinquish. The Trojans trimmed the deficit to just two on four occasions – the final time at 18-16 – but were unable to get any closer, as the Lions capitalized on three attack errors down the stretch to hold on for the win.
Third Set
Learmonth and Duty combined for 10 kills for the Black and Gold, with AU taking an early 8-3 lead and never looking back.
Mars Hill rallied to knot the score at 12-12, but the Trojans countered with five unanswered points behind McCurley's serves and consecutive miscues by the Lions.
AU pushed out to a 21-15 lead before the Lions got back within two, at 21-19. Kluner slowed the Mars Hill rally with a kill and Learmonth clinched the win with a kill and a solo block.
Fourth Set
Duty notched six kills for the second straight frame, with Kluner adding five kills during the decisive set.
The score was tied seven times before Duty ignited a run of seven straight points than snapped a 10-10 deadlock and gave the Trojans a comfortable margin to work with. With DeVaux providing the serves, Duty knocked down three kills and added a block assist to help fuel the breakout.
Neely Shugart's fourth kill of the afternoon boosted AU's lead to 21-11 and the Trojans closed out the victory by scoring four of the final seven points.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE DAY
The Trojans recorded a season-high 81 digs.
NOTABLES
• AU improved to 50-7 (.877) at home dating back to the 2016 season.
• The Trojans have won two consecutive decisions four times this season.
• The Trojans improved to 10-2 in home openers since joining the SAC in 2010.
• Regan Duty has reached double-figure kills in two straight matches and seven overall this season.
• Maya Learmonth has tallied double-digit kills in two consecutive matches and seven times this season.
• Roy has reached a career-high 53 assists in two straight matches, has five double-doubles on the year and has dished out at least 40 assists in eight contests.
• Sadie Kluner has posted double-digit kills in six contests this season and has equaled her career-high 13 in two of the last three matches.
• Hannah Neff has averaged 10.5 digs over the last two matches.
UP NEXT
Anderson will get back in action Friday, when preseason league favorite Wingate invades the Electric City. First-serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Abney Center.
