13th-ranked Lady Senators open TCCAA play with sweep of Pellissippi State

KNOXVILLE, TN – No. 13 Walters State won their ninth-straight match on Tuesday evening, opening up TCCAA play with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-11, 25-20) sweep of Pellissippi State.

With the victory, the Lady Senators improved to 9-1 on the season and 1-0 in TCCAA play.

"Opening up conference play with a win, especially on the road, is always important," Walters State coach Megan Blaylock said. "I thought we started a little slow, but was really impressed with that stretch (the Lady Senators rallied off 18 straight points) in the second set. We've got some big matches at Wallace State this weekend, so we'll get back in the gym and work on our serve receive and get ready to go again." 

The opening set saw Pellissippi lead to start, breaking out to a 6-3 advantage. The Lady Senators scored four straight to take the lead, and the two teams were then tied at seven, eight, nine and 10. At 10-10, the Lady Senators got kills from Lauren Mims and Veda Barton to get a little bit of breathing room. 

However, Pellissippi wouldn't go away and tied things again at 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. The Lady Senators got a kill from Mims to get the lead back, and then went up 22-18 on an ace by Annah Cate Hyatt and kill by Catherine Sweeney. 

From there, the Lady Senators closed things out and took the first set, 25-20.

In set two, Pellissippi scored the first point before the Lady Senators rallied off 18 straight. Mims served during the run, while Finley Surber had four kills and a block, Barton had four kills and Sweeney had two kills and two blocks. Mims had two aces, as well. 

Pellissippi finally got a point to make it 18-2, but Walters State scored four more to up the lead to 22-2. The Panthers scored a few points late to cut the lead, but an Alyssa Campbell kill closed the set out at 25-11. 

The final set was similar to the first, as the two teams were tied for much of the first half of it. At 10-10, the Lady Senators rallied off five straight points. During the run, Campbell had a block and kill, Sweeney had two aces and Surber had a kill.

Walters State continued to lead and held their advantage at 22-16 thanks to a kill by Mims and back-to-back aces by Olivia Brown. The Lady Senators closed out the set and match soon after at 25-20. 

Up Next:

Walters State will be back in action this weekend at Wallace State. The Lady Senators will play Snead State (4 p.m. ET) and No. 13 Enterprise State (8 p.m. ET) on Friday and Lawson State (12 p.m. ET) and Wallace State (4 p.m. ET) on Saturday.