East Carolina University
6-2
William & Mary
5-5
Pirates Win ECU Invitational with Split on Final Day
September 12, 2015 | Volleyball
ECU-WCU Box Score 
| ECU-W&M Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Junior middle hitter Ashley McRae was named the East Carolina Invitational Most Valuable Player after posting eight total blocks, 26 kills and hitting .261 in the tournament. On the final day of the invitational McRae, along with Kierra Lee-Dunson and Sabrina Gonzalez who were named to the All-Tournament Team, helped ECU to a split after the Pirates fell to Western Carolina 3-1 [23-25, 16-25, 25-20, 19-25] before defeating William & Mary in straight sets by scores of 27-25, 25-21, 25-22.
With the split, ECU moves to 6-2 overall, while Western Carolina is now 5-6 and William & Mary goes to 5-5 on the year.
"We talked a lot about trusting each other and knowing each other's roles, which is really important," Head coach Julie Torbett said of the game plan for the night cap. "I thought we did a better job trusting each other in the process. We knew the other teams were going to start keying in on our middles, so we needed some of the other players to step up."
Torbett's suspicions were right. Middle hitters Lee-Dunson and McRae led the squad with 18 and 13 kills, respectively against Western Carolina before William & Mary took notice and held the pair to 14 kills combined in the second contest of the day. Despite the Tribe's attempt to contain the middles, McRae still finished the match hitting a team-high .368.
With the middles being defended closely, sophomore outside hitter Ashton Mares stepped up and led ECU with 11 kills against William & Mary. She also added seven digs and one service ace while hitting .280.
Gonzalez was consistent throughout the tournament as she led a balanced offense with a total of 120 assists to average 12.00 assists per set. She also contributed 24 digs, eight kills and as many blocks to go along with a pair of aces over the three matches.
The ECU defense was solid once again as senior libero Erika Figueroa led the squad with 54 digs to average 5.40 per set over the weekend. Figueroa set the tone for the rest of the defense as senior defensive specialist Lauren Bewick added 20 digs (2.00 per set) and Mares notched 19 (1.90 per set) during the tournament.
The Pirates finished the weekend with 18.0 total blocks and were led by McRae and Gonzalez who each put up eight total blocks for an average of 0.80 per set.
"[Ashley's] play is very exciting," Torbett said of the tournament MVP. "She's a smaller player that just sparks excitement when she gets those kills. She was pretty consistent throughout all three matches and that's what you look for in a tournament MVP. I'm very proud of her for earning that."
Western Carolina 3, East Carolina 1
The Pirates kept the contest against the Catamounts close as they dropped the first set by just two points, 23-25. During the set, ECU and Western Carolina battled through six ties before the visitors broke a 23-23 deadlock with a kill and took advantage of an East Carolina attack error to win the set.
ECU fell behind 0-3 in the second set and Western Carolina ran with the lead and never looked back. The Catamounts went on to defeat the Pirates 25-16 in the frame after holding East Carolina to just .033 hitting.
Following the intermission, the Pirates came out with their game faces on and fought Western Carolina hard as the two teams exchanged leads three times, before ECU broke a 16-16 tie on a kill off the hands of Haley Bidgood. East Carolina held the edge from that point on as it won 25-20 en route to forcing a fourth set.
In the fourth frame, the Catamounts forced the Pirates into seven attack errors as ECU hit .114 in the game. Despite four ties, Western Carolina never allowed East Carolina to take a lead in the set as the visitors handed the Pirates their first home loss of the year, 25-19.
East Carolina 3, William & Mary 0
Coming into the final match of the tournament, the Pirates knew it was either do or die. Facing William & Mary, which was undefeated up to that point in the East Carolina Invitational, ECU knew the only way to emerge tournament champions was to upend the Tribe.
The Pirates and the Tribe played a hard-fought set to open the match as the counterparts found themselves knotted 13 times before exchanging leads on six occasions. The final tie of the game came at set-point for ECU when the game was 25-24. East Carolina, however, committed a ball handling error as the Tribe earned the point and the sideout and evened the score at 25-25. The Pirates refused to let that miscue sink them and sophomore middle hitter Natalie Montini knocked down back-to-back kills to lead East Carolina to a 27-25 victory.
East Carolina commanded the second set as the Pirates hit .351 with 18 kills and just five attack errors, while the ECU defense limited William & Mary to .135 hitting in the frame. The Pirates and the Tribe found themselves knotted three times, but ECU came away with the win, 25-21 after McRae ended the frame with a kill.
The third set was a nail-biter as ECU and William & Mary traded leads half a dozen times and battled each other through 16 ties. The Tribe hit .297 with 16 kills and five errors, while the Pirates hit .375 with 15 kills and just three errors. ECU broke a 21-21 tie on a kill from Bidgood and went on to win the set, 25-22, as the Pirates completed the sweep of the Tribe and were named ECU Invitational Tournament Champions.
East Carolina returns to action Friday, Sept. 18 when it heads to Columbia, S.C., for the South Carolina Invitational. Friday's match against the Gamecocks is set for 7 p.m. The Pirates will go up against Wofford and Charleston Southern Saturday, Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., respectively. The ECU-South Carolina match will be streamed live on WatchESPN.
East Carolina Invitational All-Tournament Team
Sabrina Gonzalez, East Carolina
Dessi Kolvea, William & Mary
Kierra Lee-Dunson, East Carolina
Kyndall Nichols, Hampton
Heather Pippus, William & Mary
Jo-Leigh Vervelde, Western Carolina
MVP -- Ashley McRae, East Carolina
