Lady Senators shake off slow start, sweep Southwest Virginia in home opener

MORRISTOWN, TN – Southwest Virginia hung with Walters State for almost a full set on Tuesday evening before the Lady Senators settled in and blew past them in their home opener, 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-16). 

With the sweep, the Lady Senators improved to 4-3 on the season. 

"We started a little slow, but we turned it around," Walters State coach Megan Blaylock said. "I'm glad we were able to get everyone on the floor. I think it's always good when you can play everyone. I'm really happy and pleased that everyone contributed." 

It was a complete effort from the Lady Senators as everyone on the squad played and made a contribution. 

Leading the charge for Walters State was Jaci Drinnon who seemed to be everywhere on the court to help set up and run the Lady Senators offense. 

"She's ridiculous," Blaylock said. "She can read the ball exceptionally well, better than a lot of liberos I've seen. Having her on the court is a big deal for us. We can run our offense when she's on the floor because I know she can get the ball up." 

Along with Drinnon, Haylee Richardson and Finley Surber made the most of their opportunities on the court as they led the attack at the net. 

"They both did great," Blaylock said. "Haylee did a great job in the middle. She's been trying to find some consistency in her swing, and it clicked tonight. The same with Finley. We've been working on her attacking the ball aggressively, and you could tell tonight that she took it to heart. She did a really good job tonight." 

Things started slow for the Lady Senators as Southwest Virginia broke out to a 3-1 lead. Walters State tied the set at four and then six on an ace by Allison Singleton, but Southwest Virginia forced a Walters State timeout with a 9-7 lead. 

However, the Lady Senators came out of the timeout on fire as they scored four straight points to take an 11-9 lead. During the run, Catherine Sweeney had an ace and Alyssa Campbell had a kill. 

From there, the two teams drew even at 13, 14, 16 and 17. With the score tied at 17, the Lady Senators found their groove, scoring the final eight points to win the set 25-17. During the run, Lauren Mims had three aces while Maddie Rockrohr had a kill. 

"I think it just took us until that run to just get in the groove of actually playing," Blaylock said. "We've had a couple of days off and a very big tournament this past weekend, so I think we were a little slow on our feet. But we got it together there." 

In the second set, Walters State led from start to finish. During the set, Richardson and Surber each had three kills, while Richardson had a block. Eden Aiken and Drinnon both had aces, as well. Mims and Surber ended the set with back-to-back kills to take it, 25-13. 

Building off their two-set lead, the Lady Senators scored the first four points of the final set. Surber had two kills and Olivia Brown served an ace. Southwest Virginia broke the run with a point, but Walters State scored three more points. The lead then grew to 10-2 as Richardson had a kill and block and Campbell tacked on a kill. 

With the big lead, Walters State cruised to the 25-16 set three win. During the final run, Surber had two more kills and Taylor Spears added an ace. 

Up Next:

Walters State will be back in action over the weekend as they travel to Spartanburg, SC for four matches. On Friday, the Lady Senators will play USC Sumter at 1 p.m. and Indian River State at 3 p.m. They will close out the weekend on Saturday with a match at 11 a.m. against Indian River State and one at 1 p.m. against Spartanburg Methodist. 

"I think we just need to work on our serve-receive and our offensive placement," Blaylock said. "We struggle at times to put the ball where we can score easily, so that's what we're going to work on as we prepare for this weekend." 

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics