October 13, 2005
The Blue Banner — Sening the Lhii\ersit\- of Noith (airolina at /Vshe\ille since 1982
Page 5
Volleyball takes one game off three-time defending champs
The Bulldogs
split games with
Winthrop and
High Point
By Sarah Ingle
Staff Writer
The volleyball team lost their
match against the Winthrop
University Eagles on Oct. 7
with a score of 3-1.
They won their match against
the High Point University
Panthers on Oct. 8 with a
score of 1-3.
In game one against the
Eagles, Rose Butler, senior
middle-blocker, made 10 kills
and Elif Unlu, junior outside
hitter, recorded 15.
In their game against the
Panthers the Bulldogs made 11
team blocks.
“One of our goals going into
Winthrop was to take a game
off of them,” said Julie Torbett,
volleyball head coach. “That
was a definite goal and we
almost took two games off of
them so we almost pushed it to
five which would have been
really nice.”
The Bulldogs won the first
game against the Eagles with a
score of 28-30 but the Eagles
won the next three.
“Even though we lost and we
did not play our best I think
that one of the highlights was
that we saw that there is an
ability to beat them,” said
Megan Murphy, senior defen
sive specialist. “The most
encouraging part is that the
team now knows that Winthrop
is beatable and we can place
third in conference.”
The Eagles took game two
30-17, game three 30-28 and
game four 30-19.
“Losing to the No. 1 team in
the conference and three-time
defending champions did not
have a negative affect on the
team’s morale, we-were the
only team that has taken a
game off of them at this point
in conference,” Torbett said.
“We did that without one of
our starters. We hate to lose,
but in a lot of respects we
look at it like we can beat
them and that is really impor
tant for the team to have that
mental confidence that any
given night we can beat
Winthrop because they are a
very strong team.”
The highlight of this match
was winning the first game,
according to Ashley
Wrightenberry, sophomore mid
dle-blocker.
“They were not expecting it
and it showed that we could
play them,” Wrightenberry said.
“A game is normally supposed
to end at 30, but you must
win by two and this game kept
going on and on and we final
ly pulled out the victory."
In their game against the
Panthers, Butler reorded 10
kills, Allison Lambert, senior
outside hitter, made five blocks
and 11 kills,
Wrightenberry made five
blocks and 12 kills and Unlu
recorded 10 digs and 19 kills.
The Bulldogs won the first
game with a score of 19-30
they lost the second 30-28 and
won the last two 37-39 and
22-30.
“The win against High Point
was important to bounce back
because we have lost two
matches in a row which is the
first time that that has hap
pened all season," Torbett said.
The win against the Panthers
got the team back to winning
games in the conference,
according to Wrightenberry.
“It helped to get that winning
feeling back,” Wrightenberry
said. “On Saturday we stuck
together as a team and the out
come was a win.”
The team’s mental state going
into the two matches played a
part in them losing to the
Eagles and then winning
against the Panthers, according
to Murphy.
“It is also a different kind of
mental thing, we felt more
pressure playing Winthrop even
though the real pressure was
playing against High Point,”
Murphy said. "1 think that
after losing two matches in a
row from Coastal to Winthrop
that going into High Point we
were really determined to go in
and get the win. 1 really think
that we were looking more at
the final outcome, seating in a
conference tournament."
Getting the team chemistry
back is something the team
needs to work on for the next
game, according to Torbett.
“We have had a player out
with injuries so 1 think that
getting back the chemistry out
on the court that we had prior
to that injury is really going to
be important for our next
game” Torbett said.
The Bulldogs will play their
next game against Liberty
University Flames on Oct. 14.
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