Team effort leads Walters State past Montreat College JV

MORRISTOWN, TN – It was a total team effort for Walters State on Thursday evening against Montreat College JV, as the Lady Senators swept the match 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-13).

With the victory, the Lady Senators improved to 5-2 on the season. 

Walters State coach Megan Blaylock played her entire roster in the match with smashing success as several players made an impact on the court. 

"We looked good," Blaylock said. "We've been working on minimizing our errors, and I think we did a very good job of that tonight. I was happy to get everyone out on the floor." 

Six of the players that were on the court for the Lady Senators on Thursday night were freshmen. For Blaylock, it was good to see those six produce after challenging them to step up into some key roles moving forward. 

"They did a really good job," Blaylock said. "We've been putting some pressure on them to step up and fill some bigger roles, and I think they did that. I was impressed with them tonight."  

The first set started close as Montreat scored the first two points before Mattie Davis had a kill to put the Lady Senators on the board. A kill by Madyson Greenlee put Walters State up 3-2 and then another Greenlee kill and a Hannah Freeman shot over the net that caught Montreat off guard made it a three-point advantage. 

The Lady Senators continued to hold the lead from there as a Mercedes Collins kill and Sidney Keck kill made it 11-5. Montreat battled back to 11-8, but the Lady Senators scored three straight and then blew the set out with seven straight points to make it 21-10. During the run, Greenlee had three kills while Davis had two and Takiya Curry a block. 

Walters State closed out the set at 25-13 with four straight points on a kill by Freeman, an ace from Taylor Spears and a kill by Greenlee. 

In set two, the Lady Senators dominated from the start, scoring the first five points of the set. During the run, Rachel Miller had two kills while Jordan Moore had a block and Brittany Kitchens an ace. 

Montreat bounced back and kept the set from getting out of hand until a couple kills by Haylee Richardson, Mackenzie Sweigart and Moore made it 21-12. Walters State closed out the set at 25-15 by getting three straight kills from Moore. 

Much to the pleasure of Blaylock, Walters State didn't let up with a two-set lead. In fact, the third set was the Lady Senators most dominating of the match.

"That's the best feeling as a coach," Blaylock said. "If you can start that hot and that intense and finish the same way, you can't ask for anything else."

In that third set, Walters State scored the first five points, three coming off of Curry kills. Montreat finally picked up a point to make it 5-1, but the Lady Senators went on to score the next eight points to make it 13-1. During that run, Davis had a kill while Richardson had a block. 

The set was never close from there as the largest lead came at 20-5 following an ace from Maddie Rockrohr. Walters State closed the set out at 25-13. Moore was huge in the set, coming up with a handful of kills and blocks while Allison Singleton also had a kill and block. 

Up Next:

Walters State will be back in action next Tuesday for a conference match at home against Cleveland State. The match is set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

The match kicks off a six-match week for Walters State as they play Roane State at home on Thursday before traveling to Wallace State on Friday and Saturday to play four matches. 

"We're going to focus on blocking next week," Blaylock said. "We have been lacking a little in that. Besides that, we'll work on serve receive as well which is always our focus."

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics