Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Columbia, KY – UC volleyball opened up their 2017 season on Friday at the Lindsey Wilson Classic with back-to-back matches against two NAIA top-25 teams. In the first match, the Patriots fell to the 15^th-ranked Tigers of Doane University 3-0. The second match was another tough loss for UC as they lost to the 21^st-ranked Wildcats of Indiana Wesleyan University 4-1.

The Patriots began the day with a tough matchup against Doane as they dropped three straight sets: 25-23, 25-20, 25-15. The Tigers started the first set started with Doane taking an 11-2 lead for the largest lead of the set. After some back-and-forth, Cumberlands would close Doane's lead to 23-17. With the set on the line, UC put up five straight points to shrink Doane's lead to 23-22. Each team would capture another point as the Tigers held the lead at 24-23, but the final point would come as a kill as Doane won the first set 25-23.

In the second set, UC held a 2-1 lead to start but not before Doane had a five point run to move ahead 6-2. The Tigers would continue to challenge the Patriots as they moved ahead 19-11 for their largest lead of the set. UC closed the gap to 20-16, however Doane continued their run to outscore UC 5-4 and take the second set 25-20. The third set began with the Tigers holding an 8-2 lead, but the Patriots worked their way back to make the score 11-10. Doane continued on to outscore Cumberlands 14-5 as they took the final set 25-15 and win the match in three sets.

Mackenzie Koch led offensively for the Patriots with nine kills. Abbie Genders chipped in five kills of her own. Defensively, Tara Routliffe had 17 digs while Jessica Severs added her own 11 digs in the match. Megan Jackson led in blocks for the Patriots with two total blocks. Lynsey Short tallied 22 assists in the match.

For the second match of the day, UC faced Indiana Wesleyan for four sets as the Wildcats took the win 3-1. The first set started with the Patriots holding an 8-3 lead but the Wildcats answered back to tie the set up at 8-8. UC would retake the lead to move ahead 15-9. Indiana Wesleyan would then bring the score close again at 20-18, but Cumberlands would continue to pound as they took the first set 24-21.

The second set consisted of four tied scores before UC captured the lead 13-8. The Wildcats worked their way back to tie up the set at 20-20. Cumberlands would take the lead to 22-20, but Indiana Wesleyan won the next five serves to win the second set 25-20. In the third set, the Wildcats jumped ahead early 10-6, but the Patriots closed the gap to 9-10 with three straight points. Indiana Wesleyan would extend their lead further to 14-10 and continue to push away from UC to 21-14. The Patriots took the next four points to make the score 21-18, but not before the Wildcats went on a 4-1 run to take the set by a final score of 25-19.

The fourth set started with a 3-0 run for Indiana Wesleyan, but the Patriots had their own three point run to tie up the set 3-3. Each team would trade a point to keep the set tied up at 4-4. The Wildcats tallied the next four points to retake the lead at 8-4. Indiana Wesleyan continued to push away from the Patriots to hold a 20-14 lead. A 4-1 run for the Wildcats put their lead to 24-15. Cumberlands stringed together a three point rally, but Indiana Wesleyan scored the game point to take the final set and match 25-18.

Offensively, Genders tallied ten kills while Megan Willoughby chipped in eight of her own. Short and Severs each gathered 11 digs as Willoughby gathered eight. Genders and Jackson each totaled three digs in the match. Short led the team in assists with 26.

Cumberlands will return to the court Saturday, August 19 to wrap up the LWC Classic in Columbia, KY. UC will begin the day against Indiana University Southeast at 10 am and finish up against University of Northwestern Ohio at 2 pm.

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