BOONE, N.C. – App State volleyball dropped a pair of 3-1 contests at the Black & Gold Challenge on Friday.
The Mountaineers (2-3) fell to Kansas City (4-1) 23-25, 27-25, 25-8, 26-24 and to Old Dominion (2-3) 25-19, 28-26, 22-25, 25-22.
Against Kansas City,
McCall Denny paced the Mountaineers with 16 kills.
Victoria Wilform added 13 kills on a .324 hitting mark and
Lulu Ambrose added seven kills.
On defense, three Mountaineers reached double figures in digs.
Emma Reilly led the way with 24,
Grace Kinsch tallied 15 and
Alexis Hardison had 10.
Trailing 11-10 in the opening set, App State scored four straight points to take a 14-11 lead. Kansas City tied the score at 17-17, before the Mountaineers used another 4-0 run to open a 21-17 edge. The Kangaroos pulled within 24-23, but an attack error by Kansas City allowed App State to take the opening set 25-23.
In the second set, the Kangaroos jumped out to an early 9-2 edge. The Mountaineers chipped away at the lead and used two Denny kills in a three-point span to tie the score at 23-23. Kansas City took a 24-23 lead, only to see Denny tie the score with a kill. Kansas City took the lead again at 25-24, but Denny had another answer to tie things at 25-25. From there, the Kangaroos used a kill and a Mountaineer attack error to clinch the set 27-25 and knot the score at 1-1.
Set 3 saw Kansas City jump out to a 8-1 lead and never look back, taking the frame 25-8 for a 2-1 lead.
App State found themselves down 14-7 in the fourth set, but stormed back to pull within 19-18. Kansas City pushed its lead out to 24-20, only to see the Black and Gold save four match points, thanks to kills from
Lily Harvey and Denny, to tie the score at 24-24. The Kangaroos came right back with two straight points to clinch the set and match.
Against Old Dominion, Denny paced the Mountaineers again with 16 kills. Wilform added nine kills and Harvey chipped in with seven kills.
Sam Bickley dished out 37 assists and Reilly tallied 17 digs.
The Monarchs grabbed control of the opening set early, jumping out to a 9-2 lead. App State battled back and pulled within two points at 17-15, only to see Old Dominion push its lead back to 21-15 with four straight points. The Mountaineers pulled within 23-19, before Old Dominion won the final two points to take the opening set 25-19.
In Set 2, the Black and Gold used a 5-0 run to take a 12-10 advantage. App State broke a 13-13 tie with three straight points to take a 16-13 lead. Old Dominion found themselves ahead 25-24, but a service error by the Monarchs tied the score at 25-25. Old Dominion took the lead on the next point, but the Mountaineers tied it at 25-25 on another service error. From there, the Monarchs won the final two points to take the set and a 2-0 lead.
The Black and Gold trailed 17-10 in the third set, before going on a 9-1 spurt to take a 19-18 edge. Old Dominion reclaimed the lead at 20-19 and the teams were tied at 22-22, before the Mountaineers used a pair of kills from Harvey and one from Denny to win the set 25-22.
The Mountaineers scored the first four points of Set 4, but Old Dominion stormed back to take an 8-6 lead. App State broke a 10-10 tie with a Monarch attack error and kill from Denny, but Old Dominion jumped in front 15-13. App State used a 3-0 run late in the set to take a 22-21 lead, but the Monarchs reeled off four straight points to clinch the set and victory.
App State will conclude play at the Black & Gold Challenge on Saturday with a 1:30 p.m. meeting with ETSU.
