Richard Bland Outlasts SMC 3-1
Spartanburg, SC - The Spartanburg Methodist volleyball team fell to region rivals Richard Bland, 3-1, Saturday afternoon, 20-25, 20-25, 25-23, and 18-25. With this loss, SMC drops to 8-9 on the overall season.
Sophomore Claudia Casey led the Pioneers with 9 kills, 2 solo blocks, 2 digs, and 2 service aces with a .348 hitting percentage. Molly Mather and Aeyane Mattress added 7 kills each and Leslie Williams assisted with 22 digs. Asya Louden had her highest hitting percentage of the season hitting .357 with 6 kills, while both setters Kameron Neese and Savannah Ducote combined an average of 9.5 assists per set.
In a match that saw a back and forth battle a few costly mistakes made in the first set by SMC kept them from beating Richard Bland. The second set was much of the same as SMC continued to defend the power hitters of Richard Bland. Unfortunately, the Pioneers could not score as effectively as they wanted and Richard Bland took the set 25-20.
In the third, the Pioneers were at a 4 point deficit late in the match, but with the serving of Leslie Williams and Claudia Casey, they grabbed the set 25-23. Richard Bland jumped out to a big 7-1 lead in the fourth which was tough for the Pioneers to fight back, concluding the match with a score of 25-18.
The Pioneers are back in action Tuesday, October 2nd as they take on Bob Jones in Bridges Arena at 6:00 PM.