Box Score NEWBERRY, S.C. – The King University women's volleyball team started their season with a stiff test, facing the 15th ranked team in the country, Wingate University at the Newberry College Wolves Invitational. The Tornado stayed with the Bulldogs early in the first set, but Wingate ultimately took the set 25-23. The Bulldogs took the final two sets 25-19 and 25-20 take the sweep and hand King an opening loss.
Summer Kremer paced the Tornado offense early, registering seven kills in the first set that saw King hit .250. Wingate (1-0) began to pull away in the middle of the first set, opening up a 16-11 advantage before Jordan Baty sparked a King (0-1) rally. Kremer followed with an ace before Baty pulled King within two with another kill. The Tornado pulled even at 17 before the sides began to trade points. The score was tied for the final time at 22 before the Bulldogs scored three of the final four points to take the opening set 25-23.
However, after Wingate scored the first point of the second set, King rolled off four straight points, including two kills by Sarah Collins. Nevertheless, the Bulldogs came storming back with five straight point to gain a 6-4 advantage. The Tornado answered to regain the lead, and held a 10-8 advantage following another Kremer kill, but the Wingate offense started to click at that point. King stayed ahead at 14-12 before the Bulldogs began to takeover, scoring eight straight points to take a commanding 20-14 lead before Collins registered a kill to get King back on the board. A pair of Olivia Underwood service aces around a Kremer kill forced a Bulldog timeout with King trailing 21-19. The timeout proved to be timely as Wingate scored the final four points to take the set 25-19.
The Bulldogs wasted no time gaining the advantage in the third set, scoring six of the first seven points to open up a lead. The Tornado trailed by as many as nine at 13-4 before starting a comeback. Kremer, Underwood and Baty all registered kills to pull King within 14-7. Lauren Willoughby kill followed by three kills by Kremer pulled King within 15-13 before the teams began to trade points. Baty pulled the Tornado within 20-18 with her seventh kill of the match, but the Bulldogs rolled off four straight points en route to the 25-20 win.
Kremer led King with a match-high 14 kills while hitting .289 in the match. She was followed by Baty and Willoughby who accounted for seven kills apiece. Underwood dished out 32 assists while Payton Tipton posted a team high nine digs. The Tornado hit .208 in the match while the Bulldogs hit a blistering .305 to open the season.
King will be in action again tonight when they take on hosts Newberry College at 8:00 p.m. Newberry will provide both live stats and video for the contest. The links can be found on KingTornado.com.
