Box Score Crestview Hills, KY – After almost a month-long hiatus due to the pandemic and weather conditions, the UC women's volleyball team dropped their first game back 3-1 against Thomas More. With the loss, the Patriots move to 1-4 on the year overall and 0-1 in MSC play.
Lily Chapman, once again, led the Patriot attack with 19 kills and had a team-high in digs at 22. Savanah Schwarz tallied 42 assists, which is now her third-straight game with 40 plus, and contributed three service aces. As one of the two freshmen on the squad this year, Allyson Grava also put up 10 kills and 9 digs.
Rachel Scott started the first set off well for UC as she smoked a service ace through the Saints defense to take the early 1-0 lead. The two teams would go on to trade points through the beginning of the set until Schwarz was able to set Emily Prewitt up for a kill to make the score 5-7 with Patriots trailing. From that point on, the Saints would go on a 5-2 run until Grava gave a beautiful set to Chapman for the kill which made the score 8-12 with UC still behind. Following that point, the Cumberlands offense seemed to settle in as they went on to score four consecutive points highlighted by a Schwarz kill to cut the Saints lead to 12-13. The Saints would not lie down though, as they took the first set and the 1-0 match lead when they went on a 12-5 run to put the final score at 25-15.
The Patriots dropped the second set as well to fall behind at 2-0 for the match, but after making some adjustments UC was able to hit their stride in the third.
Cumberlands came out red hot at the start of the third set as they five consecutive points with Schwarz hitting a service ace to enlarge the Patriot lead at 7-3. As the point battle continued back-and-forth, the Schwarz assist for a Chapman kill came into effect again which widened the UC lead to 13-9. After a Saint attack error, Schwarz connected yet again with Chapman and Grava for back-to-back kills to make the Cumberland lead 20-16. The Patriots took the third set on a 5-3 run with the final score being 25-19, and trailed at 2-1 going into the fourth set.
The fourth and final set was a battle from start to finish. The score was held even until an attack error from the Patriots gave Thomas More the 3-4 lead. Grava was able to tie the score up at 7-7 when she used her athleticism to hit yet another kill for UC. Although, the Saints kept their foot off the gas as they went on a 9-6 run to widen their lead at 16-11. Jennifer Stein, who had four assists on the day, was able to set up Grava for another kill that put Cumberlands at 18-22. However, it was to no avail as the Saints took the set and the match at 25-20 with the final score sitting at 3-1.
Cumberlands will have their home-opener on Monday, March 1, as they host the University of Pikeville. First serve is set for 7:00 PM.
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