Volleyball Loses to Tusculum in SAC Tournament
Mars Hill’s volleyball team was eliminated by Tusculum College in the 2013 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Tournament Friday evening in Eleazer Arena.
NEWBERRY, S.C. – Mars Hill's volleyball team was eliminated by Tusculum College in the 2013 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Tournament Friday evening in Eleazer Arena on the campus of Newberry College. The Lions end the 2013 campaign with a record of 16-12. The Pioneers move on to the semifinals with a season record of 21-9. Tusculum won the match by scores of 25-17, 25-23, 25-8.
MHU's Marissa Wixson led the Lions with 10 kills and seven digs, while Maggie Murphy recorded a match-high 21 digs in the loss. Toni Cole added six kills while Courtney Worthington supplied the Lions with 10 assists in the contest.
Kassie Voelker recorded 10 kills and a .421 hitting percentage to lead Tusculum. The TC setter combination of Ashley Sarmiento and Hannah Berling dished out 20 and 16 assists, respectively, while Caitlyn Dean accounted for 19 digs. Danae Stauffer finished with seven kills and Megan Hasse contributed four kills, 13 digs and a service ace. No. 2 seed Tusculum advances to Saturday's 4 p.m. semifinal and will face No. 6 seed Anderson University.
Tusculum closed out the opening set with a 7-1 run en route to claiming a 25-17 win. The trio of Voelker, Stauffer and Hasse posted three kills apiece while Dean accounted for nine kills in the frame.
In the second set, Tusculum jumped out to a 15-11 lead following a MHU attack error. Following a Lions' timeout, Mars Hill answered with six consecutive points to take a 17-15 lead following a MaryKate Griffin kill. MHU increased its lead to 19-16, but the Pioneers responded with a 7-1 spurt to lead 23-20. The Lions cut the deficit to 23-22 following a pair of points, but TC would win two of the next three points as the Pioneers won 25-23 to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.
With Tusculum leading 6-4 early in the third set, the Pioneers put the contest away with a 12-0 run as TC claimed the clincher, 25-8. Tusculum hit .379 in the set while limiting Mars Hill to hit minus-.103.
The Pioneers finished the match hitting .245 and totaled 60 digs on defense, while limiting Mars Hill to hit .068 for the contest.
In earlier action on Friday, top-seeded Wingate University defeated No. 8 seed Newberry 3-1 in the day's opening match. No. 5 seed Queens University of Charlotte defeated No. 4 Lincoln Memorial University 3-1 to advance to the Saturday's semifinal.
