ANDERSON, S.C. – In front of a raucous crowd in the Abney Athletic Center, the Anderson University volleyball knocked off No. 19 Wingate in a five-set marathon, 3-2.
"Our kids showed a lot of heart tonight and' never stopped believing in themselves against a very strong Wingate team," said head coach Todd Hay. "We just kept saying in every timeout that you have to believe it before you can do it. We had several instances when we could have folded up the sails and headed back into the harbor, but that's not what we train for."
Senior Rylie Sargent (Greer, S.C.) led the Trojans on the night with 19 kills while fellow seniors Sadie Kluner (Venice, Fla.) and Tabitha Wheeler (Greenville, S.C.) each tallied 12 kills in the contest. Senior Jenna Long (Clearwater, Fla.) led the squad with 44 assists on the night, and was second in digs on the team with 16, just one behind the leader in sophomore Savannah Cox (Simpsonville, S.C.).
The first set was all Bulldogs as they kept the Trojans out of their offensive rhythm, jumping out to an 11-5 lead before Anderson called a time out to try and reset the story line. However, Wingate continued to string points together, with the Trojans only able to break their streaks on limited occasions. Wingate scored the final four points of the set in a row to take the first, 25-12.
What looked to be a different Anderson team stepped on the court in the second set as they led early on 6-4. They continued to lead by a slim margin at 11-9 and it was at that point the Bulldogs were able to claw back into the match and swing the lead on their side, 15-12. Anderson closed the gap, eventually tying up the contest at 19 before a rally off the serve of graduate Lindsay McCurley (Simpsonville, S.C.) and powered by three straight kills from Sargent boosted the Trojans to a set-point at 24-19. Wingate stole one more point in the set but a final kill from Sargent put the set away, 25-20.
The third set was all Anderson all the way as they never fully relinquished their lead throughout the entire set. After taking a 7-4 lead, the Trojans were able to further extend that advantage at 13-9, forcing a rare Wingate time out. While the timeout did work in the Bulldogs favor, they were never able to take over the advantage as the Trojans continued to fight off their attack, eventually tying up the set at 21. Four-straight points for Anderson closed out the set 25-21, giving the Trojans the 2-1 advantage.
Wingate looked as though they were going to pull away in a similar fashion to the opening set of the match as they doubled up the Trojans score total at 14-7, forcing a timeout just one point later. The timeout worked like gang busters in favor of the Trojans as they closed the gap to 21-19. Unfortunately, that would be as close as they would get in the set as the Bulldogs forced a fifth set with a 25-22 win.
Wingate rushed out to a 5-0 advantage in the fifth but it would turn out to be the Trojans that would cause the eight-point side switch as they outscored the Bulldogs 8-2 over that stretch to lead 8-7. The teams traded ties and leads throughout the set, eventually tying at 15. As history is destined to repeat itself, the Trojans were able to score the final two points of the contest, picking up the 3-2 win over the Bulldogs in near-identical fashion to their contest on October 28, 2022.
"I'm really proud of our effort and the crowd played a huge role. Thanks for the great support!"
The Trojans return to action on the other side of the weekend as they travel to Greenwood, S.C. to take on Lander in a non-conference match-up on Tuesday, September 26.
