No. 12 Walters State grabs four-set win over Pellissippi State

MORRISTOWN, TN – No. 12 Walters State bounced back from a second-set defeat in a big way Thursday evening against Pellissippi State, going on for a 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 25-12, 25-16) victory.

With the win, the Lady Senators improved to 16-3 overall and 5-0 in TCCAA play.

Following the loss in the second set, the Lady Senators grabbed a 15-point lead in set three before easing to the win. In the fourth set, Walters State went up 19-7 before clinching the match.

"I liked our response in those final two sets," Walters State coach Megan Blaylock said. "You could tell we were a little rusty having not played in a week, but we bounced back there to end the match. Hopefully, we can keep that momentum going this weekend when we play four more matches."

In the opening set, the Lady Senators got up 8-4 thanks to kills from Veda Barton, Lauren Mims, Rylee Haynie and Catherine Sweeney. Pellissippi cut it to 9-7, but Walters State got three straight on a kill by Sweeney, an ace by Haynie and a kill by Finley Surber. 

The lead for Walters State grew to 14-8 on another kill by Surber and was 19-14 following three more kills by Haynie. Kills by Barton and Mims closed the set out at 25-16.

The second set started well for the Lady Senators as they got up 13-10 on kills by Surber, Haynie, Sweeney and Barton and a block by Barton. Kills by Barton and Mims kept the lead at three late, but Pellissippi tied the set at 17 with three straight points. A kill by Sweeney cut a 19-17 Pellissippi lead to one, but the Panthers grabbed the second set to tie the match.

In set three, Walters State bounced back. The set was close at first but, at 10-7 in favor of the Lady Senators, Walters State scored 10 straight to go up 20-7. During the run, Barton had two blocks and a kill, Surber had two kills and Olivia Brown had two aces. 

Pellissippi broke the run with a point but a block by Haynie and a kill by Mims made it 23-8. The Lady Senators closed the set out soon after with a kill from Haynie and kill from Alyssa Campbell.

The final set was more of the same, as Walters State got up 15-4 thanks to two kills by Mims, two kills and a block by Surber, an ace by Emma Miller, a kill by Sweeney and an ace by Sydney Bjornstad. 

The lead grew to 18-6 following a block and kill by Haynie and ace by Eden Aiken. From there, Mims and Campbell had kills while Haynie had a block that ended the set and match. 

Up Next:

Walters State will take part in the Snead State Classic this weekend. The Lady Senators will play Jones College at 3 p.m. ET and Pearl River CC at 7 p.m. ET on Friday before closing out the weekend on Saturday against Snead State at 10 a.m. ET and Wallace State at 2 p.m. ET.