JACKSON, Miss. - After an emotional win against Riverside Rival Millsaps inside Rugg Arena Tuesday night, the Belhaven volleyball team will head to Centenary in Shreveport, La. to participate in the Centenary Halloween Tournament, beginning Friday.
Belhaven defeated the Majors in a heartstopping, five-set marathon, outlasting the visitors with a 10-4 rally late in the deciding set to snap a seven-match losing streak against Millsaps.
On Friday, the Green and Gold will match up with Austin College and Mills College before concluding the tournament with host Centenary and Rust.
In the first contest of the tournament, the Blazers (10-16) will look to earn their first win against Austin College (19-13) at 11 a.m. Friday morning. This will be the fifth meeting all-time. The two teams met last year in the same tournament, but the Roos outlasted the Blazers in four sets.
The Blazers will wrap up play on Friday with Mills College at 5 p.m. An independent Division III institution, this will be the first meeting between the two schools. Located in Oakland, Calif., the Cyclones are 0-15 on the 2016 campaign.
On Saturday, the Blazers begin the day with host Centenary (7-21) at noon. The two teams have met once this season at the Belhaven Classic back in September, defeating the Ladies in four sets. All-time, the Blazers are 6-2 against Centenary.
The Green and Gold will conclude the tournament with a 6 p.m. contest against Rust (0-9). Belhaven is 4-0 all-time against the Bearcats, including not dropping a set to Rust.
With 52 assists against Millsaps on Tuesday, junior setter
Kelly Aholt needs just one more assist to become the fourth Blazer to eclipse 2,000 in her career. Earlier this season, the Scottsdale, Ariz. native passed Amy Lejarzar's 1,742 assists earlier this season against Texas Tyler on Oct. 8 for fourth all-time. Going into the weekend, Aholt will look to up her season-high of 792 assists, an average of 8.7 per set, good for third in the American Southwest Conference (ASC) and 11th in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA).
Senior libero
Abbey Herman totaled a career-best 50 digs in Tuesday's win against the Majors. With 1,081 in her career, she became the ninth Belhaven Volleyball player to secure 1,000 digs in her career. Her 5.51 digs per set remains the top spot in the ASC.
Blaykleigh Smythe totaled 13 kills and had an attack percentage of .250 in the Blazers win against Millsaps. The junior is 10th in the ASC with an attack percentage of .278 on the campaign.
Lexi Brantley will look to add to her total of service aces this weekend. The freshman is second in the ASC in the category with an average of 0.42 per set. As a team, the Green and Gold are second-best in the conference with 150 aces, averaging 1.65 per set, good for fourth in the conference and 10th in the NCCAA.
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