Briar Cliff volleyball hosted Doane and Cottey College for a triangular in the Newman Flanagan Center. The Chargers went 2-0 Saturday as they celebrated five seniors on Senior Day.
In the first match of the day, the Chargers took down RV Doane in five sets (25-23, 25-13, 23-25, 19-25, 15-9).
Abbie Ericson paced the Cliff with 13 kills on a .303 hitting percentage.
"We knew Doane would be a tough match, they are scrappy and have a great front row," said head coach
Lindsey Weatherford. "They really came on strong in sets three and four and we had to clean up our gaem to keep with them!"
Set one saw six lead changes throughout and neither team led by more than three points throughout. With a 21-20 lead, back-to-back kills from
Tyra Blue and Ericson followed by a Tiger error gave the Cliff their largest lead of the set. Three straight points from Doane cut the lead to 25-23, but a kill from Blue closed out set one 25-23.
The Cliff jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the second set and extended their edge to 15-6 after a five point run. BC cruised to a 25-13 win with two consecutive
Chloe Johnson kills to end set two. BC battled in sets three and four but the Tigers took the two closely contested sets to force a fifth set.
Leading 5-4 in the final set,
Jo Sadler held serve for five straight BC points, including two service aces in a row. A 4-1 run from Doane cut the Charger lead to four (13-9), but two straight errors from the Tigers closed out the set 15-9 and the Chargers 3-2 victory.
Johnson matched Ericson's 13 kills and added four digs.
Toria Andre tallied eight kills and took assisted in five blocks and one solo block.
Taryn Nothem tallied seven kills.
Tannah Heath notched 18 digs while
Jo Sadler added 16 digs and two aces.
Madilyn Wagaman had a team high 21 assists with 15 digs.
Maureen Imrie chipped in 19 assists and 13 digs.
The Chargers swept Cottey College in their second match of the day (25-15, 25-9, 25-21).
"It was nice to play someone outside our league to just see some different competition this time of year," said Weatherford. "Our ladies hit the ball really well to score. Blue had a great night and Imrie was the spark we needed to ignite our offense."
Set one was tied 10-10 midway through, before the Chargers outscored the Comets 15-5 to close out set one. The Cliff carried that momentum into set two, racing out to an 11-3 lead and closed out the set 25-9. Cottey held a lead halfway through set three, 13-10. A
Toria Andre kill gave BC a 16-15 advantage and would hold the lead the rest of the way, as they completed the sweep with a 25-21 win.
Ericson again led the Chargers with 12 kills on a .458 hitting percentage. Blue added eight kills and Johnson had seven. Heath had a match high 19 digs. Wagaman and Imrie both contributed 18 assists.
Briar Cliff volleyball will close out the 2021 regular season next Tuesday as they host Dordt at 7:30 p.m. in the Newman Flanagan Center.
#BattleOn
