East Carolina University
UNC Greensboro
Another Day, Another Split For Volleyball
September 06, 2008 | Volleyball
Sept. 6, 2008
HIGH POINT, N.C. – After suffering their first loss of the season on Friday night, the East Carolina volleyball team had little time to dwell on the defeat as they played their final two matches of the High Point University Classic on Saturday. The day began with a 3-1 win over Marist College in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The Pirates then took on intrastate rival UNC Greensboro in the afternoon and suffered their second defeat of the year in a hard-fought five set match, falling 3-2. With the split, ECU’s record now sits at 6–2, the team’s best start since 2003.
In the opening match, the Pirates jumped ahead to a 12-6 lead before three straight Kelsey Schaefer kills brought the Red Foxes within three, at 12-9. After that brief run East Carolina took control and Marist never got within four points the rest of the way, as the Pirates won the set 25-17. Senior defensive specialist Trish Monroe played an excellent first set, picking up 13 digs, after posting 27 in the High Point match the night before. Set two was close throughout as neither team had more than a three point lead until the Red Foxes held a 17-13 advantage. East Carolina trailed just 19-16 before Marist scored six of the next nine points to gain the 25-19 set win. In the third set, the Pirates dominated play from the beginning as they had leads of 7-3, 12-4 and 18-9 before winning 25-15. After being tied 4-4 early in the fourth set, the Pirates scored the next eight points to take a commanding 12-4 lead which the team would not relinquish in winning 25-17.
The Pirates presented multiple options on offense as junior outside hitter Melissa Zentner (12), sophomore middle blocker Lizzy Bruin (11) and junior right side hitter Stephanie Turner (10) all reached double-digit kills. Junior setter Hannah Fenker dished out 41 assists in the match.
Against UNC Greensboro, the Pirates played five close sets. East Carolina won the first set 28-26 before losing the next two sets by 25-16 and 25-21 scores. The Pirates stormed back to take the fourth set by a 25-16 score before falling in an extra long fifth set, 24-22.
In the match, freshman Amanda Lutzow turned in her best performance of her career as she tallied 19 kills in 35 attempts with just three errors, good for a .457 hitting percentage. Other top offensive performers included redshirt sophomore Erica Banning and Turner, who both collected 13 kills in the match. Turner added 13 digs for her first double-double of the season. Fenker also had a career-best performance as she totaled 59 assists.
Defensively, Monroe finished with 28 digs, just one shy of her career-high. In reward for her fine defensive effort all weekend, Monroe was named to the High Point Classic All-Tournament Team.
The Pirates have a few days off before returning to action with a home match against Campbell on Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m.
