Converse Knocks Off Defending Champions
Spartanburg, SC — The Converse College volleyball team defeated Mt. Olive College 3-1 this afternoon in CVAC play. The Trojans of Mt. Olive won the CVAC regular season championship last season. With the win, the All-Stars improve to 7-3 on the season and 3-0 in the CVAC. Mt. Olive drops to 1-5, 0-2 CVAC on the year.
Converse started the match very strong, taking game 1 by a score of 30-19. The All-Stars closed out the first game scoring 9 of the final 13 points. However, Mt. Olive proved they were not going away easy. In a game that would swing back and forth in momentum, neither team could sustain a run bigger than 4 points. The final advantage would go the Trojans’ way as they won game 2 by the score of 30-28.
Game 3 started off as close as possible with the teams tied at 10, which was the sixth tie score of the game. Converse would then build up to a 13-10 lead. Despite the best efforts of Mt. Olive, the All-Stars would never relinquish the lead. Converse would eventually win the game 30-21.
Game 4 saw the two teams tied at 3 before Converse ran out to a 9 point lead at 16-7. The All-Stars would not look back from there. The Trojans did try to make a late game run, but it would be too little, too late as the Converse All-Stars claimed game 4 and the match with a 30-24 win.
“Overall we played a very solid game,” said Coach Bill Rude, whose team in undefeated in CVAC play. “Brittany Ogez ran a good offense for us today and Lauren Mueller and Melanie Wallace played big for us.”
The All-Stars’ hitters could not seem to miss. Wallace recorded 19 kills, a team high, while hitting .295 from the outside hitter position. Mueller added 16 kills while swinging .461 on the afternoon. Sarah Javdan-Inaloo, a senior from Pickens, SC, also hit well (.368) on the way to 9 kills. As mentioned by Coach Rude, Ogez was instrumental in the win dishing out 43 assists.
Defensively, the All-Stars were led by freshman Sally Crossley (Campobello, SC) with 21 digs. Wallace, proving she can play defense as well, added 18 digs.
The Trojans’ offense was led by junior Sam Mitchell and freshman Alicia Mote who had 14 and 8 kills respectively. Joanie Werling had 24 assists on the day. Mitchell also led the team in digs with 19, while Nikki Murphy added 16.
“I am very happy with the team. This was a good day for us.” Coach Rude continued, “Hopefully this will give us some momentum going into a tough week for us.”
The All-Stars will hit the road for three straight CVAC matches that will begin with Wednesday’s competition against Limestone College that is scheduled for 7:00 pm. Converse will then do battle with St. Andrews on Friday evening and take on the Cobras of Coker College on Saturday afternoon.
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