Lions Win at Newberry to Extend Winning-Streak to Five
NEWBERRY, S.C.-- Mars Hill's volleyball team rallied back after dropping the first set to Newberry to earn a four-set victory over the Wolves Tuesday night and extend their winning streak to five matches.
NEWBERRY, S.C.-- Mars Hill's volleyball team rallied back after dropping the first set to Newberry to earn a four-set victory over the Wolves Tuesday night and extend their winning streak to five matches.
The Lions dropped the first set 21-25 before rallying to win the final three sets by scores of 25-22, 25-22 and 25-23. Toni Cole led MHU offensively with 19 kills on a .333 hitting percentage. Each team totaled over 100 digs, with Mars Hill being led by Maggie Murphy with 30 digs. Samantha Parrish's 16 kills and 25 digs paced the Wolves in both categories. Mars Hill improved to 7-4 overall and 5-2 in SAC matches. Newberry fell to 9-3 overall and 4-3 in conference matches.
Marissa Wixson notched a double-double with 13 kills and 19 digs for the Lions. Wixson passed Evie Tafunai for fifth on Mars Hill's all-time list with 938 career kills. MHU also got key contributions from Hillary Gambrell (eight kills) and Hannah Wilson (13 assists, eight digs, two kills, service ace), Victoria Kaiser (17 digs) and Christen Nicholson (17 digs). Courtney Worthington added 32 assists for the Lions.
Logan Hayward and Amanda Soper each notched 12 kills for Newberry, with Hayward notching 19 digs for the double-double. Chelsea Mayor had 49 assists, while Jessica King added 10 kills and six digs.
MHU started quick in the first set to build a 4-2 lead, but the Wolves answered with a big run to make the score 12-7. Newberry would lead by as many as eight on their way to taking the set by a 25-21 final.
The Wolves built a five-point lead in the second set before the Lions went on a 7-3 surge capped by a Wilson service ace to knot the score at 17-apiece. The two teams traded the next six points, before a service ace by Murphy gave MHU the lead for good at 21-20. Wilson and Kaiser added kills to stretch the lead to three. MaryKate Griffin closed out the set 25-22 with her only kill of the night.
The third set was tight throughout until a the Lions scored five straight to turn a three-point deficit into a 22-20 lead. Four Newberry attack errors and a kill by Cole provided the points during the run. A kill by Cole gave MHU the 25-22 victory. Five of Gambrell's eight kills came during the third set.
After an attack error cut the Lion lead to 16-15, three straight points on a kill by Regan Macomson and a pair of Newberry attack errors gave MHU a four-point cushion. Newberry battled back to within one twice, but a kill by Cole sent the Lions home with the victory.
Mars Hill will look to extend their winning-streak to six when they travel to Anderson for a 7:00 p.m. match Friday night.
