CLEVELAND, Ga. — The Montreat College volleyball team played a trio of matches on Friday during day one of the Labor Day Bear Invitational, which was hosted by Truett McConnell University in Cleveland, Ga. After dropping their initial two contests, the Cavaliers came back with a three-set sweep in their final clash of the day to go 1-2 overall. With the results, the Cavs' record moved to 2-3 on the young season.
Montreat's day started bright and early with an 8 a.m. showdown against the hosts, the TMU Bears (6-3). Answering a 5-1 deficit,
Judah Reece and
Rafaela Scherer finished off passes from
Taylor Shaw to help pull within 5-4. Consecutive attacking errors later leveled the opening set at 8-8. Kills from
Bonnie Trautman and
Elizabeth Harrington kept the visitors close midway through the frame, but seven straight points enabled the hosts to move in front, 23-14. Truett McConnell eventually claimed the first set, 25-18.
The two ensuing frames came down to the wire despite TMU ultimately winning the match in three sets. Battling out of a 6-1 hole to begin the second frame, the Cavaliers relied on several faces to erase their deficit.
Josie Leatherman got involved in the attack,
Maggie Furches played stout defense at the net and
Selma Scott evened the score at 16-16 with a service ace. Also tied at 19-19 and 20-20, the Bears fought off their opposition with a trio of kills and a pair of Cavs' miscues to win the set, 25-23.
Extra points proved to be necessary in the match's third and final frame. Another swift start powered the home side early, but three Scherer kills, an
Allie Anderson attack and another Scott ace keyed a 6-1 run that flipped the set in Montreat's favor momentarily, 7-6. Harrington and
Isabella Farmer sparked a 6-0 spurt later in the frame, handing the visitors a 20-18 advantage. Despite those runs and two set points, the Cavs couldn't overcome TMU's late charge. The hosts rattled off three straight points to end the frame, 27-25, and the match, 3-0.
Truett McConnell owned statistical edges in kills (33-29), assists (31-24), hitting percentage (.167 to .040) and blocks (5-2). Both squads notched seven aces, while the Cavaliers totaled more digs (48-44).
Scherer led Montreat with seven kills, four service aces, 14 digs and 11 points. Shaw finished with 14 assists and four digs. Trautman added six kills while hitting .385 and collected four digs. Scott recorded three kills on five attacks, two service aces and four assists.
The Cavs' second matchup of the day featured a battle with Brewton-Parker Christian University (7-1). A Farmer ace and multiple Trautman kills kept Montreat within shouting distance midway through the set, but the Barons' attack was far too efficient to keep up with. BPCU hit an astonishing .615 during the first frame, and it seized the initial set, 25-15.
Montreat's best offensive display occurred in the second frame when the team hit .296 and registered 10 kills. Leatherman fired off half of those successful attacks, including a stretch of four kills across six points. Those spikes were part of a larger 7-1 run in which the Cavaliers snagged their first lead of the match at 20-19. Two Anderson aces extended Montreat's edge out to 24-21, and a Scherer kill clinched the set, 25-23.
Brewton-Parker Christian trailed the Cavs right out of the gate in the third frame, but the Barons eventually cleaned up their play and took off sprinting. Montreat won the first three points via errors, including a Reece block, but BPCU controlled the set the remainder of the way, winning 25 of the next 36 points and 25-14 overall.
Sensing the chance to close out the match, the Barons never let go of momentum. Early separation and an 11-3 advantage gave Brewton-Parker Christian all the confidence it needed to continue its strong form. Harrington and Leatherman supplied kills in an effort to spur Montreat, but the gap still grew to as large as 12 points (17-5). The Barons eventually sealed their four-set triumph with a 25-18 frame.
Each major statistical category favored BPCU on Friday, including kills (41-26), assists (39-24), hitting percentage (.255 to .031), service aces (14-5), digs (39-35) and blocks (5-4).
Leatherman paced the Cavaliers with 13 kills on a stellar .500 hitting percentage. Scherer ended with six kills of her own and one solo block, while Reece recorded two solo blocks and two kills. Anderson tallied eight assists, three service aces and five digs.
Montreat pulled off an improbable comeback during the first frame of its match against Rust College (0-10). The Bearcats held a 24-15 lead, but despite facing nine consecutive set points, the Cavs never folded. A plethora of miscues coupled with numerous Harrington and Leatherman kills saw the Cavaliers fire off 11 straight points. The run only ended when the frame did, as Montreat capped off its remarkable spurt with a 26-24 set win.
Another extended stretch of success resulted in a 25-15 second frame that favored the Cavs. Leading just 10-9, Montreat broke the set wide open with nine consecutive points. Farmer put an exclamation point on the run with a service ace, her second of the 9-0 span. Shaw assisted Harrington for the Cavaliers' 20
th point of the frame, and Leatherman finished off feeds from Anderson and Scott to end the set.
Montreat opened the third frame with a 5-0 burst, taking the first two points via Rust attacking errors before Harrington and Reece added kills and Farmer supplied an ace. Knowing their hopes were dwindling, the Bearcats mustered up one final fight. After chipping away throughout the set, RC finally clawed its way back to a 20-20 tie. Additional points were required to decide the frame, but the Cavs showed no signs of fatigue at the end of a long day. A service error and a Furches kill sealed the deal at 27-25, and the Cavaliers added a victory to their win column.
Overall, the statistical comparison leaned favorably toward Montreat. The Cavs landed on the better side in hitting percentage (.017 to -.048), kills (31-20), assists (28-20), digs (52-49), aces (6-5) and blocks (7-5).
Leatherman led all players with 10 kills while hitting .240. Harrington finished with seven kills, four total blocks and a team-best 11 points. Farmer recorded four service aces and 10 digs. Anderson collected a squad-high 12 digs and added four assists. Scott (11) and Taylor (10) reached double-digit assist totals in the win.
The Montreat College volleyball team returns to Cleveland, Ga. tomorrow morning for day two of the Labor Day Bear Invitational. With their 1-2 performance on day one, the Cavaliers enter Saturday's bracketed tournament format as the No. 6 seed. Montreat is slated to take on third-seeded Truett McConnell in a rematch at 10 a.m.
