CLEVELAND, Tenn. –
Julie Ward became the second Tornado in the last 10 years to earn her 1,000th career kill, coming in the second set of Friday's match against Shorter University. The King University women's volleyball team won the opening set, but the Hawks came back to take the match 3-1.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Shorter 3, King 1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-20)
LOCATION: Paul Dana Walker Arena; Cleveland, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 2-5; Shorter 5-4
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- Ward registered four of King's 10 kills in the opening set.
- Georgia Davis started a 4-0 run with a kill and Ward followed with a termination before Paula La Mendola gave King a 16-13 lead with an ace.
- Davis later stretched the Tornado lead to 19-14 with an ace before Brittney Ramsey gave King the 25-22 win with one of her four kills in the match.
Second Set
- Shorter scored the first five points of the set before Ward got the Tornado on the board.
- The kill that pulled King within 5-1 was the 1,000th of her career.
- However, the Tornado couldn't recover from the early deficit as Shorter took the 25-19 victory.
Third Set
- The teams went back-and-forth in the early going before Shorter rolled off five straight points to take a 14-7 lead.
- A block from Kara Miller and Georgia Davis capped a 5-0 King run that pulled the Tornado within 18-13.
- In all, King scored eight-of-nine points, cutting their deficit to 19-16.
- However, it wasn't enough as Shorter scored six of the final seven points to take the set 25-17.
Fourth Set
- A kill from Miller and ace from Abigale Jayne gave King the early lead, but Shorter responded with four straight points.
- The Hawks followed that with another 4-0 spurt to take an 8-3 lead following the 8-1 run.
- King climbed their way back, pulling within 16-15 following a Katie Harless ace.
- Nevertheless, Shorter regained a four-point advantage with a 3-0 run, and the Tornado couldn't recover, falling 25-20.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Ward led the Tornado with 11 kills and 10 digs.
- Jayne followed with seven kills.
- Davis posted five kills, 17 assists, five blocks and 10 digs.
- Gabri Puertas led the back row with 12 digs.
- Harless added 14 assists and eight digs.
FOR THE FOES
- Lacee Glover led Shorter with 17 kills and five digs while Emma Richardson followed with eight kills.
- Madison Sprosty led the defense with 15 digs while Reilly Swierbut added 14 digs.
- Taryn Cycholl accounted for 14 assists and 13 digs while Annie Smith handed out 20 assists and added nine digs.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- In the NCAA era, since 2011, Ward becomes the second Tornado to eclipse the 1,000-kill plateau. She joins Summer Kremer who ended her career with 1,369 kills from 2012-14.
UP NEXT
- King takes on host Lee tonight. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
- Shorter squares off with Kentucky State University later this afternoon.
