Box Score
After winning the first two sets handily, the Sewanee Tigers battled through a back and forth third set before putting away the Bearcats of Rust College and notching their second win of the season. Sewanee took the match in straight set scores of 25-15, 25-11, and 25-22. The Bearcats topped the Tigers in their first meeting of the year in September, three sets to one.
The Tigers jumped out to a 20-10 lead early in the first set behind strong serving streaks by Tarver Shimek (Towson, Md., Towson), Adrienne Borchardt (New Orleans, La., Ben Franklin), and Erin Brahm (Huntsville, Ala., Grissom). The Bearcats dug in for a few points and were able to get the match to 24-15 before Liz Boddiford (Forest Hill, Md., Maryvale Prep) served the set-winning point.
In the second set, Sewanee went ahead 24-11 before Boddiford once again stepped up and provided the winning point for the Tigers.
The third set proved to be a tougher challenge for the Tigers, as Rust refused to go away without a fight. The two teams traded points until things were tied at 6-6 early in the set and before the Bearcats managed to get three straight points to go ahead 12-9. The Tigers wouldn't back down though and battled back with strong serving from Shimek and several great defensive plays to tie things up at 13-all. The two squads continued trade points for several more minutes, eventually tying it up at 17-17.
The Bearcats used a strong serving streak to go ahead 17-22 and gain the biggest lead of the set. But the Tigers battled back and tied things up at 22-22 in the middle of a long streak of serves by Borchardt. Borchardt served seven straight points for Sewanee, and combined with strong play from everyone on the court, the Tigers were able to close out the match with a 25-22 victory in the third set.
Borchardt paced the Tigers with five kills. Brahm contributed seven assists, while Kim Conkell (Atlanta, Ga, Lakeside) added two blocks. Boddiford tallied five aces for Sewanee and Shimek added six digs.
"I have nothing but good things to say about tonight's performance. The players carried out our game plan perfectly, and focused hard on hitting their service zones and adapting quickly on serve receive which made a world of difference in our side out percentage. It's nice to win at home, especially against a team that had beaten us earlier in the year. This team continues to forge together and they fight to improve the program day by day, which was reflected in the way they played tonight," explained Head Coach Jessica Cortese.
Sewanee is now 2-30 on the season and will head to Danville, Kentucky this weekend for matches with Centre College and Piedmont College.
