Mars Hill opens Tony Fontanelle Memorial Tournament with emphatic sweep of King
The Mars Hill volleyball team (2-0) defeated King (2-5) in straight sets (25-18, 25-21, 25-12) Friday afternoon to open their three-game slate at the inaugural Tony Fontanelle Memorial Volleyball Tournament.
MARS HILL, N.C. - The Mars Hill volleyball team (2-0) defeated King (2-5) in straight sets (25-18, 25-21, 25-12) Friday afternoon to open their three-game slate at the inaugural Tony Fontanelle Memorial Volleyball Tournament.
The Lions dominated play early on, jumping out to an 8-3 lead in the first. They never looked, bolstering their lead to as many as nine following three consecutive kills from Grace Lilly.
Mars Hill's momentum rolled through the second set, jumping out to another early, large lead, but King battled back in the middle stage of the frame, pulling to within one at 17-16. Back-to-back kills from Sarah Goddard forced a Tornado timeout. Coming back from the timeout, Goddard notched her third straight kill to boost the Lion lead up to 20-16 en route to clinching the stanza.
A back-and-forth affair to kickoff the third set eventually saw the Lions pull away, going on a 7-1 run with two kills from Nikkayla Stewart in that span.
The Lions had three players end the day with double-digit kills, led by Jana Cuk's 12 on the afternoon. Lilly added 11 followed by Stewart's 10. Cuk led all players, hitting .632 in the contest.
Jordan Schmucker led all players with 45 assists while Laela Jimenez, in her Stanford Arena debut, led all players with 29 digs.
Mars Hill squares off against Georgia College at 12:15 p.m. on Saturday, September 3 and close out the tournament at 4:45 p.m., taking on Young Harris.
