The Lady Govs volleyball team took on the host of the tournament, The Citadel, for their first match of the Bulldog Invitational at McAlister Field House on Friday, Sept. 16. Letsgopeay.com reported that the Lady Govs took down the Bulldogs in three sets (25-23, 25-16, 25-14).
The Lady Govs had rocky start in the first set with 11 attack errors. APSU’s defense stepped up toward the end of the frame. When Kristen Stucker and Kaylee Taff worked together to block the Bulldogs, APSU was able to take a 22-20 lead. Junior Kaitlyn Teeter delivered a block at set point to capture the Lady Govs’ win.
In the second set, APSU was much more clean with only four errors and 14 kills. For the third set, the Lady Govs held the Bulldogs to only eight kills, while APSU had 13. This allowed the Lady Govs to secure a victory for the match.
Later on Friday, The Lady Govs’ played against Charleston Southern. According to letsgopeay.com, the match lasted three sets, and the Lady Govs came out on top (25-17, 25-23, 25-23).
APSU was relentless with a 6-1 run to kick off the first set. The Lady Govs hitters dominated this match. Cecily Gable started the match strong with six kills in the opening frame. The other starting Lady Govs also posted kills in the set.
The second set was much closer than the first; however, Gable had her 10th kill of the match to allow APSU to get to match point first (24-21). APSU went on the win the set after a CSU service error.
In the third set, Gable posted 16 kills in the match, which broke her career record. When APSU got to match point, CSU fought hard by winning the point to make the score 24-23. However, Gable ended the set and the match with a kill.
In this match, the Lady Govs collectively posted 49 kills. They also posted 60 digs led by Kaitlyn Teeter and Allie O’Reilly, who tied with 11 digs. These efforts helped the Lady Govs claim a victory over CSU.
The Lady Govs played their third match of the tournament on Saturday, Sept. 17. APSU was set against Elon, and, reported by letsgopeay.com, were able to take a four-set victory (25-16, 22-25, 25-17, 25-17).
The first set went over well for APSU, and they took a win; although in the second set the Lady Govs had a hard time against Elon. As a result, APSU took the loss for set two, and were stuck in a tied match.
The third set was hard fought by the Lady Govs. Elon used two 4-0 runs against the Lady Govs to manifest a 9-2 lead early in the frame. APSU took a timeout to collect themselves, and came back with 4 uninterrupted points. This forced Elon to call a timeout; however, the halt in play did not slow down APSU. The Lady Govs used a pair of blocks to bring the set to 9-8. APSU finally secured a lead at 16-15. The Lady Govs only allowed Elon 2 more points until they took the win.
The Lady Govs kept up the pace in the fourth set, but Elon fought hard as well, forcing six ties in the set. At 12-12 the Lady Govs gained 3 points to give themselves a lead. The match was ended by a senior Sammie Ebright and Kaylee Taff block.
The Lady Govs ended their weekend at the Bulldog Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 17 with another victory. Reported by letsgopeay.com, APSU played a match of three sets against Savannah State (25-14, 25-20, 25-21).
The Lady Govs wasted no time in the first set when they jumped out to a 9-1 lead. APSU held strong and ended the set with 15 kills, while Savannah State only posted a mere five kills.
The Tigers pushed back hard against the Lady Govs in the second set, causing five ties and two lead changes. APSU pushed back even harder with an 8-2 run that helped construct a 15-10 lead. The Lady Govs ran with the momentum and claimed the second set.
In the third set, the Tigers clenched a 4-point lead that held until the score was 18-14. The Lady Govs fought back by scoring 11 of the last 14 points to win the set and the match.
Cecily Gable continued to impress by posting another 17-kill performance.
The Lady Govs had a phenomenal weekend in Charleston, South Carolina. They won all four of their matches, which made them the champs of the Bulldog Invitational.
