Volleyball Wins Exciting Five-Set Match Against Johnson

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- For the fourth time this season, the volleyball team won a five-set thriller on Tuesday. This time, the win came against Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) opponent, the Johnson University Lady Royals.

After pulling ahead 7-1 in the first set, the opponents moved on seven of the next nine points to cut the lead down to one, with a kill by Amya Sutton making the score 9-8. A service error by Johnson put the match in a 14-14 tie, setting in motion of back-to-back point exchanges that saw eight ties. A block assist by Nyah Hudson and Savannah Jones forced the final tie of the set, a 23-23 score. Unfortunately, Johnson scored the next two points to break the tie and win the set 25-23. 

Block assists by Hunter Ford and Ella Brannan gave the Lady Bulldogs a lead they never surrendered in a 25-19 second-set win. TWU scored three straight points to break a 6-6 tie, eventually moving their lead to 18-10 on a Sutton kill. Hudson ended the set on a kill off a Bailey Dalton assist to tie the match 1-1. 

A kill by Jones put the third set in a 9-9 tie. Johnson broke the tie though and pulled ahead 15-11 over the next few points. The set was looking bleak for the Lady Bulldogs as the opponents moved the score to 20-16. Tennessee Wesleyan fought back, tying the set 23-23 on a Hudson kill. Unlike the first set, the tie was broken by the Lady Bulldogs, who went on to win the set by a score of 27-25 on Sutton's kill, giving the team a 2-1 lead. 

The opponents tied the match in the fourth set with a 25-18 win. Alley Hibdon's kill made the score 7-2 as TWU tried to rally back in the set. The Lady Bulldogs pulled within three points of the lead two different times later in the set, but Johnson forced the fifth and deciding set with the set win.

A knockdown by Kianna Wickham gave Tennessee Wesleyan the first lead of the fifth set. Sutton and Jones grew the lead for the team to 3-1. A block assist by Jones and Ford broke an 8-8 tie, giving the Lady Bulldogs the momentum, which they turned into a 15-10 fifth-set win on Sutton's kill.

Sutton tied her career-high with 19 kills while Hibdon had a triple-double of 10 kills, 33 assists, and 11 digs. Hudson added nine kills for the team to go along with eight kills by Ford and seven kills each by Jones and Brannan. Dalton aided the offense with 20 assists. Megan Thompson led the defense with 27 digs to go along with 20 digs from Talynn Wheeler and 17 digs by Gracelyn Jackson. The team had 14 block assists in the match.

TWU (14-6, 6-2 in the AAC) will stay on the road for their next AAC match against Columbia College on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.