East Carolina Wins Pair In Fairfax To Christen 2019 Season

Sunday, September 1

Fairfax, Va.

11:00 a.m.

East Carolina University

1-0

George Mason

0-1

East Carolina

George Mason

East Carolina Wins Pair In Fairfax To Christen 2019 Season

September 01, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 ECU-George Mason Box ECU-Providence Box

FAIRFAX, Va. – The East Carolina volleyball program faced a strange set of circumstances to begin the 2019 season, but the Pirates remained unfazed and picked up two victories over host George Mason and Providence Sunday at the GMU Recreation Athletic Complex.

ECU swept the host Patriots 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-23) before turning immediately around and besting the Friars in an entertaining 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-16, 18-25, 15-9) decision.

George Mason, Providence and Evansville were to open the year in Puerto Rico, but the impacts of Hurricane Dorian forced the tournament's cancellation. The Patriots, Friars and Pirates all converged on Fairfax for a quickly-organized tri match instead.

East Carolina is now 2-0 for the sixth-straight season while George Mason and Providence will battle it out Saturday evening as a pair of 0-1 squads.

"It was an unusual set up having to play back-to-back matches," head coach Julie Torbett said. "We were able to sweep the first match and have time to prepare for Providence. We definitely remembered losing to [the Friars] two years ago and wanted to right that wrong.

"Overall, I am really pleased with where we are after the opening weekend. We will work on some things that we need to correct and at which we need to get better."

Notably, junior setter Shelby Martin recorded 56 assists in the two matches to increase her career total to 1,976 and move into eighth place on the program top-10 list.

East Carolina 3, George Mason 0

Junior right side hitter Bri Wood paced the team to the sweep of the Patriots, exploding for 16 kills on 31 attempts with just one error for a .484 hitting percentage. She also fell just shy of a double-double adding nine digs. Junior outside hitter Sydney Kleinman posted 11 kills and seven digs as well as four aces.

The first double-double of the season went to Martin who distributed 28 assists and collected 13 digs. She piled on a pair of service aces for good measure. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sydney Hall was a force at the net with three solo blocks.

"I feel like our pins did an amazing job terminating balls and our hitting percentage was very high," Torbett stated. "Bri and Sydney [Kleinman] are hitting and passing all six rotations so it was great to see minimal errors from them. Our middles did a good job and hit for a high percentage, but we didn't find them enough."

The Pirates put down 46 kills and committed just 10 errors on 119 attempts for a .303 hitting percentage. The Patriots also racked up 46 kills while holding advantages in digs (55-43) and total blocks (5.5-5.0).

George Mason grabbed a 7-4 lead at the outset of the contest, but ECU ripped off a 7-0 run capped by a Hall kill to assume a four-point advantage. Consecutive Kleinman aces made the score 17-13 in favor of the Pirates before the Patriots made one last push. A block allowed George Mason to edge in front 22-21. However, East Carolina had the last word as a kill by Kleinman and two-straight aces by Martin pushed the Pirates to set point. Another Kleinman ace clinched it in extra points and ECU took the opener by a 26-24 margin.

A kill by Wood saw the Pirates race out to an 11-5 lead in the second. The Patriots pushed back and were eventually able to tie the score at 20. East Carolina stayed strong though, using a George Mason serving error as well as kills by senior middle blocker Toya Osuegbu and junior outside hitter Kaiya Heyliger-Powell to claim a 23-20 cushion. The teams traded the final two points and the Pirates won the set by three to take a 2-0 lead at the intermission.

It was all ECU at the beginning of the third stanza as an attacking error led to a 10-3 East Carolina lead and a Patriot timeout. The Pirates stretched the advantage all the way to 17-9, but an 11-3 run by the home team eventually knotted the score at 20. ECU buckled down and notched four of the next six points to reach match point. A Bailey Williams kill kept George Mason alive, but Osuegbu answered with a kill on the subsequent rally to seal the sweep.

East Carolina 3, Providence 2

It was the outside hitting tandem of Wood and Kleinman that propelled the Pirates to their second victory of the day, putting down 19 kills each and hitting .415 and .341 respectively. Kleinman also notched a career-high 23 digs for her first double-double of the season and tacked on four more aces. Wood finished off her first double-double of the young campaign with 12 digs while Martin grabbed another double-double of her own to the tune of 28 assists and 10 digs. Additionally, redshirt junior libero Brandee Markwith turned in a 22-dig effort while junior setter Marissa Harmon dished out 28 assists and picked up five digs.

East Carolina hit for another very high percentage, pounding down 70 kills on 171 swings with 20 errors for a .292 showing including a .600 percentage (12 kills, no errors) in the deciding set. Providence hit at a .288 clip and the teams finished tied in the blocking column with five apiece. The Pirates had the better of it defensively, posting 82 digs to the Friars' 73.

"Both setters did nicely delivering the ball," Torbett said. "We have a lot of options offensively but there are a few things we need to work on defensively. We did come back though and out-dig a scrappy Providence team that got some balls up that honestly should have been down. We were better in almost every category on the stat sheet though and won the match in five – something we didn't do all of last season."

ECU went up 6-1 as the match opened off the strong serve of Harmon and Wood. The Pirates were able to keep their distance for most of the set and kill by Wood finished it off with East Carolina taking the frame by four.

The Pirates led the second stanza early at 9-7 before a 3-0 run by the Friars gave them the upper hand by one. ECU was able to knot the score at 14 thanks to a kill by junior outside hitter Kalee Vanderhorst, but Providence edged ahead until the late stages when the Pirates were able to catch them for a tie at 23-23 after another kill by Wood. The Friars escaped with two-straight points to tie the match at one set apiece.

An attacking error had East Carolina leading the third by a 7-3 score, but an 11-4 run shot Providence in front 14-11. A huge serving run by sophomore defensive specialist Alden Willis resulted in six-straight Pirate points to flip the script and put the Pirates ahead 17-14. With the score at 19-16 late, Kleinman put together a really nice serving run of her own to help ECU run away with the nine-point victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Friars won the fourth set 25-18 to set up the deciding frame. Trailing 2-1, the Pirates scored three-straight on a pair of kills by Wood and one by sophomore outside hitter Natalie Tyson to pull ahead by two. A kill by Hall put East Carolina halfway to victory, leading Providence 8-4. After the teams switched benches, a massive stuff block by Kleinman and Osuegbu and an ace off the serve of Willis stretched the cushion to 10-4. The Friars rallied within 11-9, but the Pirates finished Providence off in style with three consecutive kills and a match-ending block.

Up Next

ECU continues the campaign next weekend when it participates in the UNF Invitational down on the campus of the University of North Florida. The Pirates are slated to take on Mercer, Wake Forest and the host Ospreys over the two-day event.