MOC volleyball rolls
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 13, 2011 1:48 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Fast starts.
Slow finishes.
Confidence.
Everything favored the Mount Olive College women's volleyball team in a 27-25, 25-18, 25-18 non-conference triumph over St. Augustine's inside Kornegay Arena on Wednesday evening.
Sophomore Carly White, the reigning Conference Carolinas player-of-the-week, pounded out a match-high 16 kills for the Trojans. Sophomore Erika Conner just missed a double-double with 11 kills and eight digs.
Charnel Austin passed out 38 assists.
"We came out strong and the last time we went to five (sets) against this team," said MOC assistant coach Sarah Lusk. "We took what we've learned in our scouting report and applied it to the game. They're starting to see that it works, starting to learn that teams have certain tendencies and the importance of hitting their weaker areas.
"Of course, we have to maximize our strengths."
The Trojans cruised to an early five-point advantage in the opening set and maintained the momentum until they reached set point on White's kill. The Falcons (8-14) tied the set at 24-all and 25-all before another White kill and an illegal back-row attack gave MOC the win.
In set two, the Trojans hit a blistering .424 with 18 kills and just four errors in 33 attempts. Freshman opposite Sarah Robertson gave MOC its biggest lead, 19-10, with a kill off the left side.
St. Augustine's pulled to within 20-15 when Victoria Davis and Roxanne Smith executed a textbook double block against Robertson. The Falcons had seven blocks for the match.
MOC kept its composure and closed out the set.
The Falcons grabbed their first lead of the match, 6-5, early in the third set. The Trojans answered with a 6-2 run that ended on Destiny Ma'ave-Keuwa's service ace.
Conner's service ace further extended the lead to 19-11. But St. Augustine's continued to block well at the net and climbed to within 22-18 on Kathryn Tokarski's monster kill that deflected off a Trojan defender into the seats.
Two unforced errors allowed MOC to seal the three-set win.
"A win is a win and we're happy with it, but we could have played better," said White. "Once we get two wins (in sets) under our belt, we think they're going to come out sluggish and they never do that. They always come out fighting.
"We're working really hard to try to start finishing games."
Mount Olive (10-10 overall) claimed a three-set sweep for the fifth time this season and improved to 4-1 against teams from the CIAA.