Williamsburg, KY – The UC volleyball team achieved a plethora of milestones as Cumberlands defeated Tennessee Wesleyan 3-1 (25-16, 25-23, 24-26, 25-20) Tuesday night at the UC Volleyball Gym to improve to 6-4 overall. With the win, Head Coach
Kathryn Hart becomes the Patriots all-time winningest coach with 107 wins on the Patriots sidelines.
Cumberlands jumped out to a quick start as
Lily Chapman notched a pair of service aces as part of a 4-0 run to start the match. The Patriots strong played continued as UC utilized three
Lynsey Short assists to extend their lead to 11-4. Tennessee Wesleyan took five of the next six points, before UC recorded four straight points to take a 16-9 edge. After the Bulldogs cut the lead to 16-12, Short found
Mackenzie Koch for her 500
th kill of her career. Later in the set with Cumberlands leading 19-14,
Megan Jackson and
Ashley Sobocinski blocked a Gabby Harris attack. For Jackson that block was the 250
th of her Patriot career. UC tallied five of the final six points of the set, including a
Rachel Scott service ace, to take the first set 25-16.
The Patriots had to rally in the second set after falling behind 7-2. Cumberlands capitalized on Bulldogs errors combined with a pair of Chapman kills made the score 7-8. After trading points, UC got back-to-back kills from Sobocinski and
Leah Crist to give the Patriots their first lead of the set at 11-10. The match saw 11 ties, which made the score 23-23, before UC took the next two points to win 25-23 and take a 2-0 lead.
UC carried that momentum into the third set jumping out to a quick 7-1 lead, but Tennessee Wesleyan battled back and eventually took a 17-15 lead. Cumberlands fought back posting five unanswered points to retake the lead 20-17 and extended their lead 24-19. The Bulldogs responded with seven straight points to take the set 26-24 and cut the lead to 2-1.
Cumberlands used runs of five and three points to take a 10-5 lead in the fourth set. The Bulldogs battled their way back into the match eventually evening the score at 14-14. UC never trailed in the set as they used a 4-1 run to extend their lead to 18-15 and a 5-2 run to close out the match and win 25-20.
UC had four players notch double-digit kills led by Chapman, who finished with 14 kills and ten digs. Sobocinski added 13 kills and ten digs, while Koch and Jackson finished with 12 and ten kills, respectfully. Short continues her strong play finishing with a season-high 49 assists and eight digs, while
Tara Routliffe added 26 digs.
The Patriots will return to action Thursday, September 6, when they host Fisk at 7 p.m. in the UC Volleyball Gym. Live video will be available
here, while live stats for the tournament will be available
here.
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