The Kennesaw State Owls prevented a comeback from the Jacksonville Dolphins in a 3-1 match win Friday, Oct. 15, at the KSU Convocation Center.
Junior Emma Schurfranz led the charge with 15 kills on the night, which tied her for the highest kills between both teams in the match. Shelby Dennis had a team-high 21 digs in the match.
Senior Lauren Chastang contributed a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs. Claire Parsons had a good all-around performance with nine kills and six blocks with a .346 hitting percentage.
“This was not an incredibly clean game by us in a lot of phases,” Head Coach Keith Schunzel said. “But we kept challenging the team to keep fighting, not worry, play the next point and find out a way to win the game, and that’s what we did.”
The Owls finished with a hitting percentage of .186 and doubled the number of blocks recorded by the Dolphins, 10-5. They also led with seven service aces to the Dolphins four.
The Owls committed 14 service errors, two more than the Dolphins, and recorded nine fewer digs with 65 to the Dolphins 74.
The match contained back and forth scoring with a total of 12 ties and six lead changes. KSU led 12-8 until the Dolphins gained momentum to take the lead. The Owls came back and tied the set 15-15, but the Dolphins would go on a scoring burst and would almost take the set when they led the Owls 23-19. The Owls tied the set up 23-23 and then won the set 28-26.
Later, when the Dolphins went up 4-1 it was combatted with a 12-3 run by the Owls. The Dolphins cut the deficit down to one score, but the Owls would remain in the driver’s seat for the majority of the set winning it 25-21.
The game was a real tossup because of the constant back and forth scoring at the beginning of the third set. The Dolphins took their first lead of the set at 11-10 after going on a 6-4 run. The Owls trailed for the majority of the set until they tied the score three times in the closing moments. The Dolphins granted the Owls two more points before they went on to win the set 25-22.
The Owls opened set four with a 6-1 run that the Dolphins combatted by tying the set 7-7. The Dolphins, despite the slow start, took the lead and the Owls had to play catch up. The Owls and Dolphins took turns tying the match in its latter half until the final play. The Owls led 24-23 and received a final kill from Lauren Chastang to seal the victory.
The Owls moved to 10-8 on the season and 4-3 in ASUN conference play. This win over the Dolphins pushed them back to 4-15 on the season and 1-6 in league play.
The Owls head out on a road trip for the rest of the month, before returning home against Stetson on Nov. 5.
