MHicks posted on November 14, 2009 12:31
MOBILE, Ala-- The University of Mobile volleyball team defeated Loyola University 25-22, 23-25, 25-11, 25-15 to win the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championship Saturday.
Mobile (24-11) earns an automatic bid to the 2009 NAIA National Championship and will await word on who their opening round matchup will be. Pairings should come out Sunday.
Whitney Knight posted 17 kills and 11 digs for the Lady Rams, Sarah Scott added 14 kills and 13 digs, Paula Stilkey finished with 11 kills and 12 digs and Blaire Fowler added 11 kills for Mobile. Alyson Kovacs finished with 13 digs, while Melody Tenney had a season-high 55 assists.
The first set was back-and-forth early until Mobile turned a 10-10 game into a 19-13 lead with a 9-3 run. Teams traded points from there until a late Loyola run was halted by a service error to hand Mobile the opening set victory.
Loyola took command of the second set early, but the Lady Rams fought back and tied it up at 21-21 with a 4-0 run. Loyola took three of the next four points to hang on for the win. The final two sets were dominated by the Lady Rams. Mobile rolled out to a 10-1 lead in the 3rd set to pick up the win and led 7-2 early in the final set and hit .400 to pick up the win.
Semifinals: Mobile 3 - Belhaven 0
MOBILE, Ala-- The University of Mobile volleyball team advanced to the 2009 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championship Game with a 25-20, 25-12, 25-10 win over Belhaven College in Saturday's semifinal action.
The Lady Rams hit an impressive .449 in the match and were led by 13 kills from Whitney Knight and 12 kills from Paula Stilkey, who hit .750. Blaire Fowler added 9 kills and 3 blocks for the Lady Rams. Melody Tenney finished with 34 assists, while Sarah Scott had 5 aces.
Mobile struggled early in the opening set and itself an 11-11 tie. The team started to wake up and took seven of the next eight points to take an 18-12 lead. From there, Belhaven could get no closer than four points.
In the second set, Mobile used three runs of four or more points to cruise. A 4-0 run with Heather Schierer at the service line turned a slim 8-5 lead into a comfortable 12-5 advantage.
The final set was all Mobile with the Lady Rams making an early statement and going ahead 7-1. Up 12-6, Mobile went on a 10-2 run to ice the set and the match.