HICKORY, NC - UVA Wise faced off against Lenoir-Rhyne in the South Atlantic Conference opener for both schools Friday evening, where they lost to the Bears 3-1 with set scores of 25-27, 23-25, 25-21 and 19-25. The Cavaliers hit .306 with 53 kills, but the Bears totaled 60 kills and held a 12-4 advantage in service aces.
It was a bittersweet homecoming for UVA Wise Head Coach
Alexis Ivey, who played at Lenoir-Rhyne from 2016-19. One interesting fact is that, according to L-R's record book, Ivey is the only player in their program's history whose last name started with the letter "I".
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Result: Lenoir-Rhyne 3, UVA Wise 1
Records: UVA Wise (1-3, 0-1 SAC); Lenoir-Rhyne (3-2, 1-0 SAC)
Location: Hickory, NC | Shuford Arena
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- The Cavs won five of the first six points, getting a
Mable James kill, a
Serina Petersen kill and an
Abigail Curtis ace to move ahead 5-1.
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Skye Williams helped keep the Highland Cavaliers in front through the middle of the set, recording multiple kills as the visitors led 14-11 before the Bears moved ahead 17-15.
- Petersen,
Isabella Baylor and Petersen again answered with consecutive points to put the Cavaliers back in front 18-17, and the set stayed tight from there.
- The Cavs led 23-21 and later had set point at 24-23, but the Bears tied it,
Skye Williams pulled the Highland Cavaliers even at 25-25, and the home team took the final two points to win the set 27-25.
Second Set
- The set stayed tight early, with
Isabella Baylor,
Mable James,
Serina Petersen,
Riley Brandon and
Skye Williams recording kills as the Cavaliers matched the Bears through a 13-13 tie.
- The Bears moved ahead 15-13 on kills from Emmaleigh Allen and
Morgan Blankenship, but the Cavs answered with three straight points and later used kills from Petersen and Brandon to take a 21-19 lead.
- The Bears answered with four straight points, including a Brooke Aeschliman service ace, to go up 23-21. Brandon's kill and an Emmaleigh Allen attack error tied the set at 23-23, but Rachael Chambers followed with a kill and Sydney Karjala served an ace to finish the Bears' 25-23 set win.
Third Set
- The Highland Cavaliers turned a 3-2 edge into a 9-2 lead with a six-point run that included kills from
Annabelle Dowell and
Riley Brandon and an
Olivia Amos ace.
- The Cavaliers kept building through the middle of the set, getting kills from Dowell, Brandon,
Mable James and
Skye Williams as the advantage reached 17-7.
- The Bears answered with five straight points to cut it to 17-12 and later pulled within 20-17, but the Cavs stopped the push with a service error point and a pair of
Isabella Baylor kills.
- James put down a kill for set point at 24-19, and the Cavaliers closed the set 25-21 on a Bears service error.
Fourth Set
- The Bears moved ahead 9-4 after two
Morgan Blankenship kills early and consecutive Brooke Aeschliman service aces.
- The Cavs cut into the margin with a
Skye Williams kill, an
Isabella Baylor kill and a block by Amos and
Mable James, but the Bears answered to build a 17-9 lead.
- The Cavaliers got kills from Williams,
Riley Brandon and
Annabelle Dowell during the next stretch to reach 16-19.
- Brandon and Baylor added late kills to make it 23-19, but Averie Dale delivered a kill and a block on the final two points as the Bears took the set 25-19.
GETTING WISE
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Skye Williams led the Highland Cavaliers with 14 kills while hitting .379.
- Amos finished with 40 assists, two service aces, seven digs and three block assists.
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Abigail Curtis recorded a team-high 18 digs and added seven assists and a service ace. She also moved into fourth place in the UVA Wise career digs list as she now has 1,341 digs for her career. She passes Morgan Milligan (2016-19) who had 1,302.
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Isabella Baylor had a solid night as she tied her career high with 11 kills and had a new career high in digs with 13.
UP NEXT
The Highland Cavaliers continue their SAC road swing as they travel to Salisbury, NC, to face Catawba on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 2 p.m.
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