Box Score NEWBERRY, S.C. – Squaring off against tournament hosts Newberry College, the King University women's volleyball team tried to shake their loss to #15 Wingate earlier in the day. However, the late start time wasn't friendly to the Tornado either as the host Wolves swept King 25-11, 25-18, 25-20 to hand the Tornado back-to-back losses.
The home standing Wolves (2-0) showed they were ready from the opening serve, rolling off 16 straight points to start the match. King (0-2) cut the deficit to 20-8, but couldn't get any closer as Newberry took the first set 25-11.
Newberry started fast again in the second set, scoring the first three points before a Summer Kremer kill. However, after another Tornado point, the Wolves ran off five straight points and eventually opened up an 11-3 advantage before King started to fight back. Trailing 14-7, Kremer registered back-to-back kills before a Lauren Willoughby ace pulled King within four. Kremer and Grace Underwood then followed with kills around a Payton Tipton service ace to make the score 15-13. King then pulled within 16-15 following another Kremer kill, but that was as close as the Tornado would get as Newberry scored six straight points en route to the 25-18 second set win.
In the third set, Newberry again started with a spurt, scoring the first five points of the frame to set the tone. The Tornado didn't give up, however as Ashton Beckner pulled King within 9-6 with one of her three kills in the match. Newberry answered with a 6-1 run to stretch the lead back to eight points. The Wolves then cruised to the 25-20 victory to take the sweep.
Kremer paced the Tornado offense with 10 kills while Jordan Baty followed with four kills. Olivia Underwood dished out 15 assists to go along with eight digs while Tipton recorded a team-high nine digs.
King will be in action again on Saturday morning when they take on Columbus State University at 11:00 a.m. The Tornado then face USC Aiken to close out the Wolves Invitational at 7:00 p.m.
