HENDERSON — Head volleyball coach Amanda Bretherick and her Freed-Hardeman University Lady Lions cracked into the Mid-South Conference win column for the first time with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-21, 14) sweep of the Cumberland Phoenix.
A pair of early kills for the Lady Lions (12-12, 1-6 MSC) put the maroon and white up 5-1 before a service ace from Alanys Ruiz Rivera capped an unreal start to lead 10-2. A pair of kills from
Avery Young pushed the score up to 17-6 before Ruiz Rivera slammed a kill to put an exclamation mark on a 25-10 set victory.
A back-and-forth start to the second set saw the Phoenix (15-13, 2-5 MSC) jump out to a 6-4 advantage before
Audrey Orton tallied a kill to knot the set at 6-6. FHU later scored four unanswered points to hold an 11-7 lead over CU. A late push pulled the visitors within one point when a service error made the Lady Lions' lead 15-14. FHU then scored five of the next six points to add separation to a 20-15 set before a Cumberland error gave the Lady Lions the set win 25-21.
The Lady Lions took advantage of early Phoenix errors in the third set, not scoring a point of their own until Ruiz Rivera's kill gave FHU a 6-3 lead. Cumberland answered in turn when an FHU service error tied the set 8-8 before the Lady Lions eventually turned around to score five unanswered points to take a 15-9 lead and forcing a timeout. FHU added separation down the stretch by going on another 5-0 run to hold match point 24-14.
Alyssa Austin and
Iza Wos then capped the league victory with a block to end the 25-14 set win.
Audrey Orton had a career night, slamming a career-tying 14 kills at a .387 clip.
Avery Harris notched four service aces in the victory while
Charley Fulton and Alanys Ruiz Rivera led the defense with 12 and 10 digs, respectively. As a team, FHU had the most efficient night in MSC play by tallying 35 kills to nine errors (.274).
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Up Next
The Lady Lions dip out of MSC play to visit Rust (Miss.) College on October 15.
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