Lady Senators stay perfect at ‘Z’ Buda, sweep Spartanburg Methodist 3-0

Morristown, Tenn. — Coming in with a four-game win streak, the Spartanburg Methodist volleyball team was looking to get revenge on Walters State for a 3-0 sweep earlier in the season.

Instead, they were sent home with yet another 3-0 sweep.

Walters State (18-7) dominated from start to finish as they completed the sweep over Spartanburg Methodist 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-21). It was the Lady Senators second win in-a-row.

"I think we did pretty well," Walters state head coach Megan Blaylock said. "I think we were a little sloppy at some points, but I think we pulled it together and looked pretty good. It's always tough facing a team the second time, but we did a good job."

The first set saw both teams matched evenly after the first 10 points, tied at five. The teams kept playing evenly through the next 10 points with the scored tied at 10. However, Walters State took control as the Lady Senators built up a 18-15 lead and then, taking advantage of Spartanburg Methodist errors, scored seven of the last eight points to take the set 25-16.

"We have a hard time getting starting, but we get to point 10 and then get started," Blaylock said. "We've been working on it in practice, and we just need to get started earlier. But I am glad we get past it."

The second set saw more of the same to start with Walters State building up a 4-1 lead early. They kept that lead, building it to 13-9 and then 20-16. But Spartanburg Methodist fought back. The Lady Pioneers tallied four straight points and tied the match at 20. The two teams traded points and were still tied at 22 when the Lady Senators took control back and took the set 25-23.

In the second set. Spartanburg Methodist used all of their 15 substitutions allowed in the set as they seemed to rotate players after almost every point.

"It's hard to keep up sometimes and when you study their film and prepare, you have to prepare for 18 kids instead of seven," Blaylock said. "But I think our kids did a good job against it and handled it really well."

The final set saw the Lady Senators come out slow as Spartanburg Methodist come out to a 3-2 lead. But, just like the first set, Walters State took command as they scored the next eight points and built a 10-3 lead. The Lady Senators continued to hold a big lead as they pushed it out to 15-6. Spartanburg Methodist threatened one more time, getting the score to 20-16 as they won six straight points. Facing set point at 24-17, Spartanburg Methodist had one final run as the Lady Pioneers scored four straight points to make it 24-21. But Walters State closed it out, winning the set 25-21.

Freshman Jania Hill (Morristown, Tenn.) led the team in kills with eight while fellow freshman Alaysia McGhee (Knoxville, Tenn.) had six kills. Freshman Hannah Daniel (Bristol, Tenn.) had five kills while freshman Amanda Singleton (Knoxville, Tenn.), sophomore Courtney Dotson (Greeneville, Tenn.), freshman Taylor Tigue (Franklin, Tenn.) and freshman Olivia Oxendine (Pensacola, Fla.) all had four.

Walters State will be back in action on Monday as they take on Montreat College at home. That match is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

"I hope we get it done and get it done efficiently on Monday," Blaylock said. "I hope we use it to get us started for the region tournament here in a few weeks."