Williamsburg, KY – The Patriots had a great game before Senior Day as they notched their third sweep in a row against Shawnee State 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-15). The Patriots celebrated their seniors Danielle Jackson, Shelby Lackey, Lexi Lester, Emily Prewitt, and Savanah Schwarz following the game. The Patriots move to 16-7 on the season.

Offensively, the Pats were led by the dynamic duo of Allyson Grava and Anna Blumeier who both tallied double digit kill totals. Grava notched 18, while Blumeier added 15. Shelby Lackey led the way at the net as she notched seven blocks, while Prewitt and Grava added four apiece. Lester totaled the only two aces of the match for the Pats along with adding seven digs. Kendall Arnold led the passing attack with 25 assists and Schwarz put in 12. Juliet Banks tallied 13 digs.

The first set opened with some back-and-forth action, the back-to-back kills from Blumeier followed by a Bears error gave the Pats an 11-8 lead. A few plays later Blumeier put in another two kills followed by a Grava kill to take a 15-10 lead and force a Bears timeout. Two plays after the timeout, Grava notched two kills. Then a play later, the Patriots would get back-to-back blocks. The first was by Lackey and Schwarz and the second was by Blumeier and Lackey. A couple plays later, Blumeier notched a solo block followed by a kill to make the score 21-17.  After a Shawnee State timeout, Blumeier would add another kill to her total. Then Jackson and Prewitt came together at the net for a block, and a couple plays later Jackson ended the set with a kill.

The second set started with Blumeier notching three kills. Lester then added an ace to tie the set at 4-4. A few plays later the Pats would rattle off four points to take a 5-9 lead. The points came by way of two kills by Grava, a kill by Jackson, and a block by Lackey and Prewitt. Later in the set following some back-and-forth action, Schwarz and Grava notched back-to-back kills to give the Patriots a 22-18 lead. Following a few Bears points, Blumeier scored three straight kills to end the set.

Jackson and Prewitt opened the third set with a block, followed by a Grava kill. From there, Cumberlands would steadily add points to increase their lead. Then a block from Grava and Lackey gave the Pats match and set point, and Kira Ervin put in a kill to end the game.
Head Coach Dr. Kathryn Hart said, "I'm very proud of how solid we played today. Our seniors have been such great leaders this season, helping us stay steady and setting high standards of play and work ethic all year.  Today our leadership showed that there weren't a lot of ups and downs, and the blockers really came through. Our goal was to try and control #9, their big outside, we knew if we could do that, then we had a good chance of winning. This team continues to improve each match and I'm looking forward to Tuesday's match against Georgetown!".

Cumberlands will start next week with a home match on Tuesday against Georgetown. Then they hit the road headed to Union for a Tri-Match against Kentucky Christian and Union on Friday October 21^st.

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