Pioneers Defend Home Court

Pioneers Defend Home Court - Wil Teague, Sports Information Director, 9/27/22

Crowley's Ridge College hosted the Bearcats of Rust College (Miss.) tonight in their fourth home game of the season. The Lady Pioneers defeated the Bearcats in a sweep winning 3 consecutive sets 25-19, 25-17, and 25-13. With this win the Lady Pioneers improve to 3-1 at home and 3-11 overall. 

In the first set of the match there was no definite team that momentum would side with. Rust College would take a 4-1 lead but would be answered by a kill from Sophomore Alexis Weirich. Weirich would be followed by Junior Emi Elms who would provide a big block for Pioneers. This combo would again link up a few points later to end the Rust run with a second big block that allowed Freshman Holy Berry to step behind the service line. Berry would tie the set with the help from a Bearcat error and a service ace, to make it 7-7. The Lady Pioneers would lose the lead as they found themselves in a 13-10 deficit but would rally together three consecutive kills with back to back spikes  by Junior Brooklynn Passmore and solo shot from Sophomore Paige Glenn matching the Bearcats 13-13. Rust  would look to answer but the Pioneers would find two separate  4-0 runs taking the first set with a block by Sophomore Jadyn Hesse to win, 25-19.

Set two, the scene would look much like set one with the teams as a standstill. Rust would rally several times but the CRC defense would stand firm. Reigning CAC defender of the week, Freshmen Kinley Matlock and Junior Heather Conaway would lead the Pioneers in this effort. Handling several Rust attacks and answering with digs in crucial rallies Matlock and Conaway would allow the Pioneers to gain the advantage over the Bearcats. With the score tied  8-8, Crowley's Ridge found life and would go on a 9-3 run taking the air from the Bearcats' wings. Jadyn Hesse would set her team up for this run as she would gather 8 assists in the set contributing to  a 13 kill effort from the Pioneers in set two. Junior Brooklynn Passmore would lead the way, racking up 4 of her 9 kills in this set along with Hannah Halverson with 3 of her 7 kills. Hesse wouldn't settle there. She would take matters into her own hands again as she would end the set with a service ace, 25-17. 

In set three the Pioneers decided to keep the trend going. Being up 2 sets to 0, CRC got off to a fantastic start. Jumping ahead 11-4 after Junior Emi Elms dished three consecutive aces. Junior Hannah Halverson would keep the train moving by following up Elms with a kill, allowing Hesse to step behind the service line. Hesse, already having ended set two with an ace, would follow Elms and dish back to back aces giving the Pioneers a demanding lead 15-5. This gap would stand the test as the Pioneers would increase their attack and win set three 25-13, defeating Rust College. 

"It feels good to win. What we have talked about all week is to relax and have fun, so it's nice to see the girls actually do that. When we can shrug off the mistakes and not let them bring our morale down, we play competitive volleyball. I'm proud of them but like always we have things we need to work on to prepare for LeMoyne-Owen on Thursday."- Head Coach Carissa Winn

Leaders:

Junior Brooklynn Passmore led the Pioneers in kills (9). Sophomore Jadyn Hesse led the Pioneers in assists ( 24). Four Pioneers had double digits in digs with freshmen Kinley Matlock leading with (18) followed by Junior Hannah Halverson (13) Freshmen Holly Berry (11) and Junior Heather Conaway (10). Sophomore Jadyn Hesse and Junior Emi Elms would end with (3) service aces followed by Freshmen Holly Berry (2). 

Next up: 

CRC travels to LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, TN to take on their Lady Magicians on Thursday, September 29th at 6:00pm