Cleveland, GA- Patriots move to 6-6 after a tough day to close out play at the Truett McConnell Invite Saturday afternoon. UC dropped the first match against Kesier 3-1 (21-25, 25-17, 19-25, 11-25), before falling to Truett McConnell 3-1 (21-25, 22-25, 25-9, 22-25).

vs Keiser

The Patriots duo of Allyson Grava and Sara Zampedri both notched double-doubles. Grava tallied 16 kills and 10 digs, while Zampedri came away with 11 kills and 20 digs. Juliet Banks ended the game with 27 digs and three aces. Kendall Arnold led the passing attack with 38 assists.

Grava tallied the first Patriot point with a kill. After two Seahawk errors, Danielle Jackson and Zampedri came together for a block to take a 4-2 lead. The action went back-and-forth until, UC notch three straight points. After a Keiser error, Kara Gipson got a solo block and Zampedri followed with a kill. From there, the Seahawks rallied to take the lead back, and ultimately held on to take set one.

The Patriots rallied in set two after taking control early. Allison Moneypenny started the set with a kill, a few plays later Grava added a kill as well. A couple of plays later with the score tied at 5-5, UC went on a 7-1 run to take control of the set. On that run, Grava put in three kills, while Gipson added a kill, and Jackson notched an ace. From there, Keiser scored three straight before the Pats put together a 7-0 run to take a 19-9 lead. The run started with two Seahawks errors, followed by a Moneypenny kill and back-to-back aces from Banks. Jackson and Moneypenny came together for a block, then Banks notched another aces to force a timeout. After the timeout, Zampedri and Jackson put in kills for the 22-11 lead, and Grava tallied the final three kills of the set.

Keiser rebounded and found the momentum to take sets three and four to win the match.

vs Truett McConnell

A trio of Patriots recorded double-doubles in the tournament finale.  Savanah Jolly notched a career-high 28 assists to go along with 24 digs and three aces to lead the way for UC.  Allyson Grava tallied 16 kills and 10 digs, while Sara Zampedri notched 12 kills to go along with 15 digs. Juliet Banks finished the day with 22 digs as Kara Gipson chipped in eight kills and four blocks.  
 
UC came out strong in the first set as Grava notched a pair of kills to help the Patriots jump out to a 4-1 lead.  The two teams traded points until Jayce Braden and Kara Gipson combined for a block to extend Cumberlands lead to 8-4.  Two points later Zampedri notched a kill, which was followed by a pair of aces from Banks to make it 12-5 in favor of the Patriots.  The two teams trade points before Arnold connected with Grava for a kill before an ace from Danielle Jackson made it 18-9.  Truett McConnell recorded seven straight points to pull within two at 18-16, before Gipson notched a kill and added a block to extend UC's lead to 20-16.  The Bears went on a 9-1 run to close out the set 25-21 and give Truett McConnell the 1-0 advantage.

The Patriots opened the second set with Zampedri notching a kill and an ace to give UC the 2-0 edge.  Truett McConnell went on an 8-2 run before Savanah Jolly found Zampedri for a kill to cut the deficit to 8-5.  Cumberlands rallied to even the score at 10-10, before Truett McConnell tallied three straight points to take a 13-10 lead.  UC continued to battle back as Jayce Braden notched a kill before the Pats retook the lead 15-14 on a Gipson kill.  The two teams traded points until Jolly notched a kill and connected with Braden for a kill to put the Patriots in front 20-18.  Truett McConnell responded with a 7-2 run to win the set 25-22 and take a 2-0 lead.

Jolly opened the third set with strong serves as UC took an 9-0 lead as the freshman tallied two aces and a pair of assists on the run.  Allison Moneypenny and Zampedri each added a kill to extend UC's lead to 12-1.  After the two teams traded points, Zampedri, Jackson, and Grava all recorded kills as part of 7-0 run to put UC in front 22-6. Cumberlands went on the take the set 25-9 cutting the deficit to 2-1.

Truett McConnell opened the fourth set with a 3-1 lead, before Gipson notched a kill to pull UC within a point.  That kill sparked an 8-1 Cumberlands run that was capped off by a kill from Jackson to take a 9-4 lead.  Grava added a trio of kills to make it 14-6 in favor of the Patriots.  UC extended their lead to 16-8, before Truett McConnell went on a 9-1 run to tie the match at 17-17.  Kills from Grava and Zampedri put Cumberlands back in front at 19-18 but the Bears went on a 7-3 run to take the set 25-22 and the match 3-1.   
 
Cumberlands will make a pit stop at home on Wednesday September 6^th against Asbury before heading to Ohio for the weekend.

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