No. 23 Walters State sweeps Chattanooga State in home opener

MORRISTOWN, TN – No. 23 Walters State picked up right where they left off earlier in the week on Thursday evening in their home opener, sweeping Chattanooga State 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-21). 

The Lady Senators improved to 2-0 with the win and 2-0 in conference play. They have dropped just one set so far through two matches.  

"I think that we were able to get a little more comfortable with each other on the floor," Walters State coach Megan Blaylock said. "This is only our second time playing, so it's going to take some time to get used to playing someone other than ourselves. I think we were a little more at ease tonight."  

After Tuesday's match against Roane State, Blaylock talked to her team about having a better approach defensively as well as managing their service game a little better. 

On Thursday, they did just that. The Lady Senators had eight aces in the match and played much better not just out of their serve but all-around.  

"We had a big discussion about scoring out of defense instead of just out of our serving, and I think we did that pretty well tonight," Blaylock said. "We also wanted to focus on getting more serves in the court, and I think we had quite a few less service errors tonight than the first match."  

Things started off quick for the Lady Senators as they scored the first three points of the match, including an ace from Taylor Tigue. After Chattanooga State finally got on the board, Walters State built a 5-1 lead on an ace from Jania Hill.  

Then, with the score 6-4, the Lady Senators scored four straight to put some distance between them and the Tigers and force a Chatt State timeout. From there, the two teams battled until the Lady Senators went on another run led by Devyn Davis that made it 24-17. After two points from the Tigers, Walters State closed the set out, 25-19.  

In set two, it was Chattanooga State who got off to a quick start and took their first lead of the match at 3-2. The Lady Senators fought back though and regained the lead at 5-4. From there, Walters State scored five of the next six points, two of those coming off of aces from Hill, and the Tigers called another timeout down 10-5.  

Walters State kept it going and got the lead to 20-14 after back-to-back aces from Parker Hurd. From there, Chatt State tried to rally, making it 22-19, but the Lady Senators finished them off with a 25-20 second set victory.  

Much like the start of set two, Chattanooga State seemed motivated to start set three and held the lead for the majority of the beginning of the set, leading 13-10 which led to a Blaylock timeout.  

Coming out of the timeout though, Walters State seemed like a new team, reeling off three straight to tie the set up and then, with it tied 15-15, scored five straight. Two of those points came from kills from Alaysia McGhee and Lydia Buchanan.  

"I told them (during the timeout) that we can't get comfortable when we were up, and I think we did that," Blaylock said. "We let off the gas, so I just told them that we can't be that type of team and need to finish how we started. I think they did a pretty good job after we talked about that."  

From there, Walters State was never in trouble again, closing out the match with a 25-21 victory and improving to 2-0 on the season.  

"It feels good," Blaylock said. "I know it feels good for the freshman too. They're still trying to get their footing in college ball. So getting to 2-0 is big for them for the future."  

UP NEXT: 

Walters State will have a quick turnaround, taking on the Bob Jones JV team on Friday night at 5:30 p.m.  

"I hope tomorrow that we start and finish the same way," Blaylock said. "We need to power all the way through and not let up. I hope that we have enough drive to get us all the way through it. I hope tomorrow that we can find something that is a little more concrete moving forward."  

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics