SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The eighth-seeded King University women's volleyball team saw their season come to an end in the first round of the 2024 Conference Carolinas tournament Saturday morning, falling 3-0 to 11th-seeded Barton.
Riley Nelson and
Gracia Love both had 10 kills, with
Kylie Love posting 14 assists for the Tornado.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: #11 Barton 3, #8 King 0
LOCATION: Montgomery Student Center; Spartanburg, S.C.
RECORDS: King 11-12, 9-9 Conference Carolinas; Barton 8-18, 4-13 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- King led from the start, scoring the first two points, eventually taking a 6-2 lead before Barton closed the gap to 6-5.
- The Tornado then scored four of the next five points, taking a 10-6 lead and forcing the Bulldogs to take a timeout.
- Barton was able to close the gap, tying the score at 15 before taking a 16-15 advantage.
- An attack error by the Bulldogs allowed King to tie the score at 16 before a Gracia Love service ace put the Tornado back in front, 17-16.
- After the score was tied at 21, Barton scored four of the final five points, winning the first set 25-22.
Second Set
- The Tornado held a narrow lead early, with Barton tying the score at seven before taking their first lead of the set at 8-7.
- The Bulldogs continued to stretch the lead, taking a 13-10 lead, forcing King to call a timeout.
- Coming out of the timeout, King scored two straight points, forcing a Barton timeout.
- King continued their scoring run, taking the next three points to take a 15-13 lead.
- The scoring run reached 8-1, giving the Tornado an 18-14 lead, forcing another Barton timeout.
- Barton didn't go quietly, as the Bulldogs pulled to within 21-20, at which point King took their second timeout.
- The set ended up going all the way to 30-28, as the Bulldogs were able to edge out a set win to take a 2-0 lead.
Third Set
- Barton scored six of the first seven points, causing the Tornado to call an early timeout, trailing 6-1.
- The Bulldogs continued to grow their lead, taking a 10-2 advantage as King took their second timeout.
- King scored four of the next five points, narrowing the lead to 11-6 heading into a Barton timeout.
- Barton held a 15-9 lead, at which point King scored four straight points, with a pair of service aces from Gabri Puertas and two kills from Bailey Fersner, forcing another Barton timeout.
- The Tornado were able to pull to within 17-16, but Barton scored the next four points, taking a 21-16 lead.
- Despite the rally, the Tornado were unable to fully close the gap, dropping the set 25-20, and the match 3-0,
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Nelson finished with 10 kills, a service ace and two blocks for King, while G. Love had 10 kills and 12 digs, along with two blocks.
- Fersner led the Tornado back row with 14 digs, while Puertas had nine digs and two service aces, along with three set assists.
FOR THE FOES
- Henly Sleight led all players, posting 15 kills and two aces.
- Lauryn Pitt had 14 kills on the match, while Hailey Strey had a match-high 28 assists.
