LONGVIEW, Texas - The Blazers volleyball team played a total of 10 sets today against Sul Ross State and McMurry combined. After falling short in yesterdays matchup to Concordia University, the Blazers came out today with an early 10:00 a.m. start and handed the Lobos of Sul Ross State a loss in five total sets.
In game one the Blazers would come out and take the first set by a score of 25-20. The Lobos would quickly get some momentum back on their side as they would go on to win the next two sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-14. The Blazers have shown all season long that they have the ability to come back and win tough matchups, and once again they would rise to the occasion.
In set four, the Blazers would come out and tie things up with a set win of 26-24 in what was a nail biting match.
Needing a fifth set to decide the game, Belhaven would come out firing on all cylinders as they would take the set 15-8, giving them the win over the Lobos.
For the game, Belhaven was led by last weeks C-Spire Athlete of the Week, Blaykleigh Smythe who once again had another impressive performance with 12 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 service ace.
Bekah Williams had 10 kills and Hope Tourney would add another 9 kills to the Blazers total of 49 kills for the match.
Senior assist machine, Kelly Aholt, would once again lead the Blazers with 45 assists in the match. The Senior from Arizona also had 1 block, 1 ace, and 1 kill against the Lobos.
Freshman, Sydney McEachern, had a huge game with 32 digs, while Lauren Whiting and Allie Perkins also posted big numbers with 17 and 14 digs in the matchup.
Game two was quite similar to game one for the Blazers, this time taking on the McMurry War Hawks.
Belhaven would win the first two sets by scores of 25-23, in each set, to take a commanding lead. The Blazers would only need of one more set win, to win the whole match, but the War Hawks would make things interesting by winning the next two sets 25-20 and 25-10.
Once again for the second game of the day, it would take a fifth and final set to decide this back and forth matchup. With the final set being played to 15 points, the Blazers and Lobos would keep things tight with the score all knotted up at eight a piece. Neither team seemed to separate from the other in the final match until the Blazers began to rally and quickly find themselves up 14-10.
The Blazers would go on to get the 15th and final point to get the win. After taking down the War Hawks the Blazers now advance to 8-6 overall and 4-2 in ASC play.
For the second game in a row today, Kelly Aholt would post more than 40 assists. Between the two games today Aholt would combine to have 86 assists, bringing her season total to 344 assists.
Bekah Williams would lead the Blazers in kills with 11 in game two. Hope Tourney continued her impressive outing on the day with 8 more kills and 4 blocks in the match.
Lauren Whiting would add 7 kills and 31 digs while Blaykleigh Smythe had 2 service aces and 2 blocks.
McEachern would again post more than 20 digs in game two to move her team leading total to 159 digs on the season.
Belhaven (8-6) will return home to Rugg Arena this Tuesday to take on the Millsaps Majors (5-7) at 7:00 p.m.
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