GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum women's volleyball team rounded out the season series against Coker on Thursday (Oct. 30), winning in five sets. Seven of TU's 13 home matches have now gone the distance, with the Pioneers winning five.
The Pioneers (8-12, 6-8 SAC) outlasted the Cobras (8-15, 4-10 SAC) by scores of 25-14, 23-25, 21-25, 25-20, 18-16.
Alyssa Carey led Coker with 12 kills, while Cheyenne Bird led the setting duties with 20 assists. Four Cobras recorded a service ace: Carey, Bird, McKay Kasper, and Meadow Morse. Libero Morse finished with a match-high 32 digs. At the net, Leah Pimentel was credited with 10 total blocks (three solo, seven assists).
Karris Oller upped her career-best to 17 kills, firing on a .349 hitting percentage. Joining their teammate in double figures are Grace VanZwieten (14), Mackenzie Land (13), and Jaida Alvin (11). Breana Pelbath landed five kills on a .364 clip in her return to the lineup, followed by Adreana Lee (4), Isabella Bianchin (3), Sadie Roach (2), and Mary Katherine Hall (1). Roach and Victoria Church combined for 56 assists with 36 and 20, respectively. Land accounted for three aces, while Maggie Kane and Mia Wave-Nelson tallied a pair apiece. In her second-straight contest at the TU libero, Wave-Nelson finished with a collegiate-high 24 digs, trailed by Hall (career-best 21), Kane (14), and Land (12). Both Alvin and Pelbath were credited with four block assists.
Coker hit .052 as a team with 37 kills and 28 errors on 173 total attempts. Tusculum hit .116 with 70 kills, 43 errors, and 233 total attacks, the seventh-most attempts in recorded program history. The Cobras led the match in digs (101-100) and total blocks (12-8), while the Pioneers tallied more assists (64-33) and service aces (8-4).
Tusculum led the opening set from start to finish, aided by a 9-0 run to kick off the match. The Pioneers landed 18 kills in the frame to Coker's five. TU's lead reached double-digits with another four-point run, notching a 15-4 advantage. The teams went tit-for-tat the rest of the way, with Tusculum winning the final two points on kills by Oller and VanZwieten.
Coker went on a 5-1 run to start the second set, which featured four ties and four lead changes. The Cobras used five blocks and three aces to offset 14 Tusculum kills. After the visitor's 6-2 advantage, TU went on a 7-1 spurt to swing the momentum, highlighted by three kills from Oller. With the Pioneers leading 11-10, Coker rallied for an 8-2 stretch. Tusculum was able to narrow the lead to 24-23 after fighting off three set-points, but the Cobras tied the match.
Coker kept its foot on the gas to lead 7-3 in the third set, sparked by a 3-0 start. TU subbed in Pelbath and Lee, proceeding to win the next five scores. Now down 8-7, the Cobras went on a 6-0 run, behind five unforced Pioneer errors. Tusculum went on a 5-1 spurt to pull within striking distance (13-14). Coker stretched the edge back out to four (21-17), but the Pioneers kept fighting, winning three-straight. After a timeout, the Cobras notched four of the final five points, taking a 2-1 lead in the match.
Tusculum stared down defeat and fought back, landing twice as many kills as Coker (16-8). The Pioneer defense also held up, recording three blocks, alongside a pair of aces. All three ties in the frame occurred in the first six points. TU took the lead at 4-3, in the midst of a four-point run, and did not relent the remainder of the set. Up 13-12, Tusculum went on a 6-0 run, with Coker calling both of its timeouts. The Cobras managed to come back to a four-point deficit, but a service error sent the match to a decisive fifth set.
Whichever team won the first point through the first four sets, won the frame. The trend continued with the fifth set with Roach's second career ace. The teams were tied nine times with a pair of lead changes. Down 3-1, Coker went on a 6-2 spurt. Tusculum got kills from Land and Oller to tie the set at 7-all. The Cobras won three of the next four, but TU once again kept the contest close with ties at 10, 11, and 12. A block by Alvin and Pelbath earned the Pioneers match-point at 14-12, but Coker used back-to-back unforced errors to continue the match. Pelbath gave TU another match-point but the Cobras were the beneficiaries of another gift. A Coker attack error followed by a kill tied the match for a final time at 16-16. Roach notched her second kill of the match with a perfectly placed ball on the back line, with the match-winner on a Coker attack that went too far.
Tusculum makes the quick turnaround to face Lenoir-Rhyne on Friday (Oct. 31) at 6 p.m. The teams met earlier this week in Hickory with the Bears winning 3-1.
