September 23, 2022

by Dustin Semore, Sports Information Director

HENDERSON, Tenn. — Five rallies into the second set of Friday's conference clash with The University of Tennessee-Southern, Kacey Donegan tallied her sixth kill of the match. Add that to myriad of others she has collected over her career, and Donegan recorded 1,000 career digs. FHU's newest member of the 1,000/1,000 club joins elite company, with hall-of-famer Karina Souza being the only other Lady Lion to collect 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. FHU staved off a valiant comeback bid by the FireHawks, winning 3-2 (25-23, 25-20, 20-25, 27-29, 15-6).

The Lady Lions (9-7, 2-3 MSC) and FireHawks batted through the first set until a service ace from Avery Harris forced a UTS timeout with the Lady Lions leading 20-16. FHU pushed points until they sat on set point 24-20, but UT-Southern kept matters interesting, collecting three straight points. Ultimately, a Catherine Hackett blast ended the set 25-23.

After picking up her defensive accolade, Donegan showed off her serving skills in the second set, collecting a hat trick of service aces over the FireHawks (6-13, 1-3 MSC) in the middle of a 7-0 run near the end of the frame. FHU would stay in the driver's seat after taking the second set 25-20.

UTS would make things interesting, fighting back to take the third set and a fourth set that went into extra points before the FireHawks forced the decisive fifth set with a 29-27 set win.

Allie Humphry's rotation at the service line helped lead the Lady Lions to go on a six-point unanswered run in the fifth set to take control and eventually claim victory in both the set and the match with a 15-6 final tally.

Donegan posted another double-double, blasting a team-high 17 kills while pulling up 13 digs. Jadyen Watkins and Ashlynne Clifft followed suit, scoring 13 and 11 kills, respectively. Hackett kept the FireHawk hitters at bay, blocking three attacks.

Up Next

The Lady Lions will break for a week before returning to conference play with a trip to Thomas More (Ky.) University on September 30, with a start time of 7:00 p.m.