WISE -- UVA Wise evened up their season record against their neighbors from down the Powell Valley Friday evening as they rallied back in the fourth set and dominated the fifth to axe the Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters 3-2. The win avenged an earlier five-set loss in Harrogate, Tennessee, in September.
The win solidifies seventh place in the South Atlantic Conference standings with eight regular season matches remaining,
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Result: UVA Wise 3, Lincoln Memorial 2
Records: (10-9, 8-6 SAC); Lincoln Memorial (9-10, 7-8 SAC)
Location: Wise, VA | David J. Prior Convocation Center
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
The Cavaliers built a 6-2 lead in the opening set behind early kills from
Mable James,
Serina Petersen and
Riley Brandon, plus a block by
Maggy Sechrist and Petersen during
Olivia Amos' service turn. Lincoln Memorial came back to tie the set at 8-8 and, after James put the Cavs back in front, scored the next five points to move ahead 13-9. The Highland Cavaliers worked back into the set with
Abigail Curtis' ace, a Sechrist kill and a series of blocks involving Sechrist, Petersen and Brandon, eventually moving ahead 17-16 before later tying it again at 20-20. The Railsplitters answered late by taking five of the final six points, including kills by Georgia Dobson and Kaytlin Johnson, to win the set 25-21.
Second Set
The second set stayed tight early until LMU moved from a 6-6 tie to a 9-6 lead, and the Cavaliers later trailed 12-10 after a Sechrist kill. Sechrist added two more kills during a Cavs push that pulled the Cavaliers even at 13-13, and consecutive kills by Sechrist and
Riley Brandon put the Highland Cavaliers ahead 15-13. Lincoln Memorial tied the set at 15-15 and again at 18-18, but kills by
Mable James, James and Sechrist gave the Cavaliers a 21-18 edge before UVA Wise closed the set 25-20 on a
Skye Williams kill and a block by
Serina Petersen and Brandon.
Third Set
The Highland Cavaliers traded points early in the third set, getting kills from
Skye Williams,
Mable James, Sechrist and
Riley Brandon before the Railsplitters moved in front 7-5. After Sechrist's kill made it 8-7, Lincoln Memorial scored five straight points behind Lauren Pickett's serve, including a Pickett ace and kill and two Kaytlin Johnson kills, to push the margin to 13-7. The Cavaliers continued to side out with kills from Sechrist,
Serina Petersen, Brandon and Williams, but LMU stretched the set to 20-12 and later reached set point at 24-15.
August Betz and Sechrist put down three straight kills for the Cavs before Sarah Robbins closed the set for LMU, 25-18.
Fourth Set
Lincoln Memorial broke an 8-8 tie with five of the next six points to move ahead 13-9, and after the Cavaliers cut it to 14-13 on a
Riley Brandon kill, a
Madilyn Pardue ace and a Lincoln Memorial attack error, the visitors pushed back to 18-15. The Highland Cavaliers countered with an
August Betz kill, an
Olivia Amos ace and a
Serina Petersen kill to tie the set at 18-18, and after Kaytlin Johnson put LMU back in front, Petersen and
Skye Williams delivered kills for a 20-19 lead. The teams traded points deep into the set, with the Cavaliers pulling even after Lincoln Memorial led 24-23, 25-24 and 27-26 before Sechrist and Williams put UVA Wise ahead 28-27. Johnson tied it at 28-28 for Lincoln Memorial, but Brandon's kill put the Cavaliers back in front and
Mable James' block on a Milyn Minor attack error closed the set 30-28.
Fifth Set
The Cavaliers trailed 4-2 in the fifth set before
Maggy Sechrist's kill brought the home side within one, and a Lincoln Memorial attack error plus
Madilyn Pardue's kill put the Cavs ahead 5-4. Pardue stayed at the service line as the Highland Cavaliers stretched the run to seven straight points, with an
August Betz-
Mable James block assist, kills by Betz and
Mable James, and a Lincoln Memorial bad set pushing the score to 9-4. After Laney Inman ended the run, the Cavaliers rebuilt the margin to 12-5 on a Lincoln Memorial service error, a Sechrist kill from Pardue and a
Skye Williams ace, then moved to 14-7 on Betz's kill and
Abigail Curtis' ace. Lincoln Memorial scored four straight points to get within 14-11, but a Lauren Pickett service error gave the Cavs the fifth set, 15-11.
GETTING WISE
- Sechrist finished with a career-high 20 kills, 15 digs, six total blocks and 23.5 points.
- SAC digs leader
Abigail Curtis collected 30 digs and added three service aces, bringing her career total to 98, tying Morgan Milligan (2016-20) for eighth place on the career aces list. She trails Kristen Salyer (2005-09) by nine aces and with two more she will be the eighth UVA Wise player to surpass the 100 aces mark for their career. She also ends the match with 1685 career digs and needs 15 to be only the third Highland Cavalier to reach 1,700 digs.
- Amos recorded 44 assists, 13 digs and one ace.
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Serina Petersen posted nine kills on .429 hitting and a team-high seven total blocks. She now has 193 total blocks for her career as she passed tenth-place Brooke Abbott (192, 2017-21) tonight and trails Kristen Salyer (2005-09) by five. With seven more blocks she will be only the ninth Highland Cavalier to pass 200 total blocks. Peterson also moved into sole possession of ninth-place in solo blocks with 48, passing Lindsay Tucker (2013-17). She is also two blocks behind tenth-place Brooke Abbott (2017-21) with 145 career assist blocks.
- Brandon had 14 kills, moving her to ninth all-time now has 671 as she passed Megan Funk (2008-12), who had 667.
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Skye Williams had a near double-double as she had 12 kills and nine digs.
- The Cavs have allowed 70 or more digs only three times this season, and two of them were against LMU.
- UVA Wise has now won two straight matches in Wise over LMU and two of the last three (and the one loss in Harrogate in September was in 5 sets.)
UP NEXT
Carson-Newman comes to town on Saturday for a 2 p.m. showdown with the Cavs on the Quillen Court.
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