Gainesville, Ga. - CIU Volleyball traveled to Brenau University Friday night, to participate in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) match. The Rams would come away with the match victory giving them 10 wins on the season just 4 shy of their season win total last season. The win would also put the Rams at 3-3 in the conference moving them into 4th place in AAC South Division. Brenau moved to 1-6 in the conference and 1-15 overall.
How It Happened
The Tigers of Brenau would start well on their home-court and take a 9-7 lead early in the first set. Errors by the Rams and a strong attack from the Tigers' outside hitters would allow Brenau to strike first and win the first set 25-23. The Rams would write a much different narrative in the second set, and two kills early by
Lily Tang helped CIU distance themselves from the Tigers. Brenau would get as close 21-22 before Tang would pick up another kill and
Carla Cauchi won the set on an ace after a Brenau error.
With the match tied at 1-1 the Rams would turn to their always reliable sophomores
De'Asija Harden and
Mackenzie Sanchez. Harden would record 7 kills in the set while Sanchez would lead the way with 13 assists. CIU would win the game 26-28. The fourth set would start out tight, and the Rams would find themselves in a 7-7 deadlock. However, consecutive kills by
Megan Lung would open the game up for CIU and the Rams would pull away 18-25.
Box Score Highlights
What Coach Haver is saying
"We had a slow start to this evening. We are going to work harder at being able to get off the bus and get in rhythm early in the match. This is expected with a young team, so all things considered, I'm pleased we were able to run our tempo after the first set. As we gain some more experience, I'm confident we will become more consistent. De'Asija had a great night, aggressively hitting her shots.
Andrea Salas was strong in both serve receive and defense. Proud of the team tonight securing a conference win on the road."
Up Next
The Rams play in Sumter, South Carolina tomorrow, versus Johnson C. Smith University and Morris College.