Sept. 12, 2009

Final Stats

ROCK HILL, S.C. - North Carolina Central University lost the Battle of the Eagles Saturday afternoon, falling to tournament-host Winthrop, 3-0 (17-25, 10-25, 17-25), to conclude the Hilton Garden Inn Invitational. Tasha-Gaye Richards recorded a career-high five kills and hit an impressive .556 in the match.

NCCU finished the match with a .038 hitting percentage off of 18 kills and 15 errors. Defensively, the Eagles had a more successful blocking game, outnumbering Winthrop, 11-6. Senior Avaniki Campbell led with three blocks, followed by Shantel Moore, Cara Hill and Richards each with two. Defensive specialist Raven King recorded a team-high 12 digs, one shy of tying her career-high.

Outside hitter Belinda Behncke-Biney tied Richards with a team-high five kills, while Kiara Brown added 10 assists to the Eagle offense. NCCU had 23 digs and three service aces.

Winthrop had two players that hit above .400. Kaley Viola and Sara Felts recorded double-digit kills with 12 and 10, respectively. Felts hit an impressive .625, while Viola hit .444. The Winthrop Eagles hit .353 for the match with 43 kills and 13 errors. Defensively, they recorded 40 digs and six blocks. Setter Kelsey Hall added 34 assists.

Winthrop had the first serve to open the match and scored the first point. A Winthrop ball handling error would tie the score at 1-1, which sparked the Winthrop Eagles on a 9-1 run. NCCU called a time out to hope for a rally. A 9-1 rally by NCCU cut the deficit to one, which forced a Winthrop timeout.

NCCU continued to battle, alternating points with Winthrop staying within four points. A short 3-0 run by Winthrop forced NCCU to call a timeout. The Eagles refused to let up and continued to fight. Winthrop closed out the set with a 7-2 run, which gave them a 25-17 win.

In the first set, the Eagles hit .148 with eight kills and four errors. Behncke-Biney led the way with three kills, while King led on defense with four digs.

NCCU got the first serve in the second set. After Winthrop scored the first point, it was a back-and-forth battle with each team alternating points. NCCU stayed within two points of Winthrop for the beginning of the set. At 6-5, Winthrop jumped on NCCU, extending their lead off a 5-0 run, which forced an NCCU timeout.

Out of the timeout, Winthrop continued to stay in control, extending their lead to 12 after a 10-3 run. Down 20-8, NCCU called a timeout to try to regroup and refocus. Winthrop continued to stay ahead of the Eagles and closed the set scoring the last five out of seven points to win the set, 25-10.

At the break, Winthrop had hit over .350 and had 26 kills and only six errors so far in the match. NCCU had hit .035 with 14 kills and 12 errors. Behncke-Biney led in kills with five, followed by Richards with four. Richards hit .571 in two sets of player, while King collected nine digs.

The NCCU Eagles were outnumbered on defense. Winthrop had 28 digs compared to NCCU's 16. Winthrop also had six blocks to NCCU's none, but the NCCU Eagles would grab all 11 in the third set.

In the third set, NCCU got on the scoreboard first off a kill by Campbell. This set started out like the second one with both teams alternating points for another battle. Within the first 18 plays, there were five tie scores and NCCU only had the lead once. After an 8-8 tie, Winthrop took a 4-0 run to a 12-8 lead, but a block by Campbell and Moore put the NCCU Eagles within three.

The NCCU Eagles cut the lead to two after a Winthrop service error and a kill Richards. That wouldn't last long as Winthrop struck again. NCCU and Winthrop went back-and-forth in points until the 18-15 mark, which proved to be the turning point for Winthrop.

Four straight points by Winthrop put them within three points of clenching the match. NCCU called a timeout at 22-15 to try to regroup. Winthrop's dominance continued, scoring three of the last five points to give them the match. The Winthrop Eagles won the Battle of the Eagles in three straight sets.

Winthrop improved to 4-4 on the season and took a 2-0 advantage in the series against NCCU. The NCCU Eagles dropped to 1-10 on the season. NCCU will be back in action next weekend when they return to South Carolina to compete in the South Carolina State Spikefest in Orangeburg.

For more information on NCCU volleyball, visit the official website of Eagles Athletics at www.NCCUEaglePride.com.