October 16, 2009

SALISBURY, N.C. - Catawba held off a Mars Hill rally and claimed a four-set win over the visiting Lions in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action on Friday night at Goodman Gym. Freshman Kaitlyn Whitmer (Ferrum, Va.) delivered a career-high 17 kills to pace Catawba in winning by the scores of 25-16, 25-8, 8-25 and 25-21. The Catawba Indians improve to 12-8 overall and 5-5 in the SAC, while the Lions fall to 9-10 and 2-8.

Catawba’s Shay Meeks (Kings Mountain, N.C.) followed Whitmer with 11 kills, while libero Mai Zoua Lo (Hickory, N.C.) had 25 digs and a pair of aces. Whitmer also added a pair of aces with nine digs and a block.

Mars Hill got six kills from four players, Evie Tafunai (Edwardsburg, Mich.), Laura Ann Huskey (Hendersonville, N.C.), Jenna Luke (Mishawaka, Ind.) and Traci Teague (Ramseur, N.C.). Teague added three blocks and an ace. Kelsi Flora (Mishawaka, Ind.) served up seven aces, including five in the third set.

Catawba stormed to easy wins in the opening two sets. The Lady Indians hit 38.5% with Whitmer picking up 11 of her kills at the halfway mark. In the second set, Catawba would serve up six of its seven aces in rolling to the 25-8 win.

Mars Hill stormed out of the gates in set three. Flora’s five aces in a 12-point run gave the Lions a 14-3 lead. After hitting less than 10% in the first two sets, Mars Hill killed at a 31.8% mark in the third set. Catawba had seven errors and only two kills, falling off to a minus 26.7% ratio.

The Lions kept the momentum into the fourth set. A Teague kill gave Mars Hill a 16-11 edge. Catawba rallied from there. Setter Jordan Raye (Boonville, N.C.) had two kills and Whitmer another to help cut the deficit to 16-14. Tafunai pushed the margin back to 19-15 with a kill for Mars Hill, but the Lady Indians won the next five points to go on top.

Taylor Doss (Boonville, N.C.) had a kill and a combo block with Alli Parrish (Zebulon, N.C.) to tie the set at 19-all and a Raye kill gave Catawba the lead. Parrish and Raye had kills as the Lady Indians went up 23-20. Danielle Mason (Westerville, Ohio) got the last Mars Hill point before Doss and Whitmer had kills to end the match.

Mars Hill will play at SAC rival Wingate University on Saturday afternoon. Match time is slated for a 5 p.m. start.

Boxscore...

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