SALISBURY, N.C. – Plagued by its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season, the Anderson volleyball team opened its final two-game road swing of the season with a five-set loss to Piedmont Division rival, Catawba, 25-22, 16-25, 25-21, 27-29, 12-15, Friday night at Goodman Gym.
Anderson (20-5, 13-4 SAC) saw its win streak halted at nine, while Catawba (7-16, 5-11 SAC) earned a split of the season series with the Trojans by snapping a brief two-game home skid.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Senior middle blocker Noelle Knutsen led the Trojans with 13 kills on a .355 hitting percentage, while adding three block assists and a solo block on the night. Junior right-side hitter Rylie Sargent, who has posted double-digit kills in four of the last five matches, recorded a dozen kills and three block assists. Senior outside hitter Liliana Kinder and Jaelyn Grimm each tallied nine kills apiece, with Grimm adding three service aces, three block assists and three solo blocks. The junior from Cedar Park, Texas, committed just two errors in 23 swings for a .304 attacking accuracy.
Sophomore Savannah Cox posted a career-high 43 assists and came up with six digs, while notching a block assist and a solo block. Senior Lindsay McCurley finished the night with a team-high 25 digs, with classmate Alexandra Petrilli and junior Tabitha Wheeler each recording 12 digs apiece. Sophomore Hannah Neff recorded 10 digs on the night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
Kinder and Sargent combined for seven kills in the opening frame, while junior Sadie Kluner's first kill of the match gave the Trojans their first lead of the match, at 4-3.
Moments later, with the score deadlocked at five apiece, AU reeled off seven unanswered points behind Wheeler's serves. But the Indians crept back within three to force a Trojan timeout. Coming out of the break, Kinder and Sargent knocked down back-to-back kills and a Catawba error built AU's cushion back to six (18-12). Catawba then countered with a 5-0 run of its own to climb within 18-17 before Kluner halted the run with her second kill of the set and sparked a 6-1 surge that gave AU a seemingly comfortable 24-18 advantage.
But the Indians made it interesting by holding off set point four times before a service error gave the Trojans the set.
Second Set
With Catawba posting a sizzling .300 hitting percentage and AU hitting -.067, the Indians took an early, 10-4, edge and the Trojans never led in the second frame.
The Black and Gold trimmed the deficit to four on two occasions, but could get no closer, as Catawba notched an even higher hitting percentage over the rest of the set and finished with a .357 hitting accuracy.
Third Set
The Trojans scored the first point of the third set, and even though the scored was tied seven times, the Trojans trailed just once – at 9-8.
With the score later knotted at 14-14, Knutsen knocked down a pair of kills to fuel a brief 4-1 run and the Trojans held off the Indians down the stretch for the four-point win.
Fourth Set
The frantic fourth set featured a dozen ties, including eight in the final moments, with the lead changing hands just three times.
After trailing by four early, AU battled back to knot the score at 12-12, only to fall behind again by four (18-14) before finally taking its first lead, at 22-21, on a kill by Grimm.
The score was then deadlocked six more times before Catawba overcame a 27-26 deficit by scoring three straight points and sending the match to a fifth and deciding set.
Fifth Set
The Indians carried the momentum over into the fifth set and hit a red-hot .381.
AU quickly fell behind, 6-2, but weathered the storm somewhat and climbed within 8-6 before Catawba used three unanswered points to rebuild a five-point lead.
Still trailing by five, at 13-8, the Trojans scored four of the next five points to slash Catawba's lead to just 14-12, but were unable to finish the comeback.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE GAME
The Trojans hit just .151 on the night – their lowest attacking accuracy since hitting .148 in a four-set loss to Lenoir-Rhyne in mid-September.
NOTABLES
• The Trojans have won 11 of their last 13 contests.
• AU holds a 17-6 advantage in the overall series with the Indians and has won 16 of the last 19 meetings.
UP NEXT
Anderson is scheduled to wrap up the regular season, Wednesday night at Lenoir-Rhyne. The Trojans have won eight of the last 10 matchups with LR, but have dropped two straight to the Bears after Lenoir-Rhyne handed AU its only home loss of the season back in mid-September. First-serve in Hickory, N.C., is scheduled for 6 p.m.
