October 9, 2009

Falcons Outlast Lander on the Road, 3-2

GREENWOOD, S.C. - The University of Montevallo women's volleyball team (13-9, 4-3 PBC) continued its strong road trip with a huge 3-2 win over Lander University (12-7, 4-4 PBC). The Falcons were led by two of their seniors Katie Johnson (Alabaster, Ala./Thompson) and Katy Handrick (De Pere, Wisc./De Pere) who each posted double-doubles for the second match-in-a-row. Johnson led the team with 17 kills while Handrick had 16.

"We are really excited to win a fifth set match," said head coach Katie O'Brien. "We have had that monkey on our back all season. Lander is a good team and we battled back and forth."

The Falcons are now 3-4 in fifth set matches. UM dominated the first set winning 25-16 but couldn't continue that domination the rest of the match as Lander gave Montevallo a tough match on the road. The Falcons dropped sets two and three 25-20 and 25-22 and fell behind 2-1 but the relentless Falcons would not give up as they stormed back to take sets four and five 25-15 and 15-13.

The Falcons were impressive in their set one and four victories as they held LU to .147 and .065 hitting percentages in each set, respectively. The Falcons on the other hand hit .367 and .464 in each of those sets.

Johnson led the way with 17 kills and 15 digs and an impressive eight blocks including one solo. Handrick chipped in 16 kills and a team-high 18 digs. Sophomore Anna Garrison (LaVergne, Tenn./LaVergne) had a strong performance as well with 54 assists and 13 digs.

Junior Rebecca Dowd (Dothan, Ala./Providence Christian School) had 10 kills and seven digs while freshman Virginia Clay (Fort Collins, Colo./Poudre) came up just short of double-digits with nine kills.

Freshman libero Brittany Wilson (Floyds Knobs, Ind./Floyd Central) had 17 digs on defense while sophomore defensive specialist Rachel Wotitzky (Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte) chipped in 12 digs.

The Falcons will return to the court tomorrow, Oct. 10 at 1:00 p.m. as they take on Augusta State University on the road for their third match in three days.