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SPORTS

Davidson Volleyball Sweeps Final Day of Wildcat Classic

by | Aug 26, 2018 | Sports

Davidson Women’s Volleyball team swept Marist as well as William & Mary on the final day of the Wildcat Classic.

DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Davidson women’s volleyball team ended their home tournament, the Wildcat Classic, with a strong finish by scoring 3-0 wins against Marist and William & Mary Saturday afternoon inside John M. Belk Arena. The Wildcats finished 2-1 on their season-opening weekend.

Katharine Franz (14) and Alison Jennings (1) go up for a block in the game against Marist.

The day started with a 25-23, 25-19 and 25-23 win vs. the Red Foxes and ended with another sweep of the Tribe by the scores of 25-11, 25-22 and 25-23.

Davidson put a pair of players on the All-Classic Team, with Mason Rooney and Ellie Crosley joining Central Arkansas’ Haley Tippett (MVP), Savanah Allen and Emily Doss, Marist’s Morgan Owen and William & Mary’s Madeleine Bertz. Central Arkansas won the classic with a 3-0 record.

Rooney hit a stellar .396 during the two days, getting 25 kills (second-most on the team), to go with a team-best 49 assists and 11 digs. Crosley had a great weekend as well, hitting a team-high .595 with 23 kills on 37 swings and just one error. She added nine blocks and three digs.

Junior Josie Treadwell serves in the afternoon match against Marist.

The Wildcats’ had a solid hitting match in cruising to their win vs. Marist to start the day. They hit just below .300, getting 42 kills on 97 swings with just 13 errors. Hattie Rodriguez led the way with 13 kills on 17 hitting attempts for a strong .765 hitting percentage. Ellie Crosley followed with eight kills, while Alison Jennings and Ciera Cockrell tallied six each.

Sydney Champaigne and Mason Rooney did a good job of setting up their hitters with 18 and 16 assists, respectively, while Jose Treadwell earned 14 digs.

In the evening match to finish out the classic, Davidson hit .302 led by Crosley’s .636 percentage with seven kills on 11 attempts. Rooney reached double-digits with 10 kills and added 16 assists. Treadwell earned 16 digs to pace the defense.

Set one vs. Marist went back-and-forth until Davidson used a 4-1 run to pull ahead 16-13 capped off by a Rooney ace that forced Marist to use a timeout. The Red Foxes tied it up at 16-all before the Wildcats again pulled ahead, going up by four at 22-18 on an Alison Jennings’ kill. Marist had one last push, tying it up at 23-all before it had service and setting errors on the next two plays that gave the Wildcats the win at 25-23.

Senior Ciera Cockrell gets some serious air in a kill against William & Mary.

Davidson hit a sizzling .500 on 17 kills with 28 swings and just three errors to score a set-two win. The ‘Cats went ahead with a 7-2 run to go up 14-9 and held a lead of at least three the rest of the way for the 25-19 win.

Another 7-2 run in the third set helped the ‘Cats break a 9-all tie to go up 16-11. Hattie Rodriguez tallied two of her five kills for the set during the run. The lead held up until the Red Foxes tied things up at 19-all, but the Wildcats went back up 23-20 on another Rodriguez kill. Up 24-23, the freshman capped off the match with the game-winning kill.

The night cap match saw Davidson dominate in the first set, hitting .435. It jumped out to an 11-3 lead before the Tribe burned a timeout. The Wildcats did not let up, pushing its lead out to 20-5 before sealing up the victory on a Rooney kill.

Senior Mason Rooney (13) and Alison Jennings (1) go up for a block in the game against William & Mary.

The next two sets were much closer. The second set saw the ‘Cats again get out to a hot start, going up 10-4 and then 17-9 after a Ciera Cockrell kill. W&M though started to chip away, going on an 11-5 run to get with one at 22-21 to force the Wildcats to use a timeout. A kill by Rooney out of the timeout got Davidson back on track and it sealed up the win on Katharine Franz’s kill off an assist from Rooney.

There were five ties through the first 15 points of the third set and then Davidson doubled up the Tribe, 8-4, over the next 12 points to take a 16-11 lead. The Wildcats saw William & Mary come back to take a 20-19 lead on a 9-4 run of their own. Four ties followed until at 23-all, Rooney picked up a service ace and the Tribe had a hitting error giving the Wildcats the sweep with a 25-23 win.

Davidson wraps up its homestand to start the season with a match against cross-county rival Charlotte Tuesday at 7 p.m.

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