DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Junior
Kelsey Murphy and senior
Kelly Rossip tallied a combined 23 kills for visiting North Carolina Central University in a 3-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women's volleyball loss at Bethune-Cookman University Sunday afternoon at Moore Gymnasium.
The Wildcats (8-12 Overall, 5-0) remains in first place in the Southern Division with the 25-11, 25-21, 25-14 sweep. The Lady Eagles (3-18, 2-3) slips below .500 in league play for the first time this season.
NCCU HIGHLIGHTS & STATS:Murphy registered her fifth double-double of the season with a match-high 13 kills and a team-best 10 digs. Rossip tacked on 10 kills on a .348 hitting percentage as the duo combined for 23 of the Lady Eagles 27 kills. Rossip also had two blocks, including one solo.
Freshman
Whitney White was the only other NCCU player to record a kill with four spikes.
Senior
Marilyn Sherbondy matched Murphy with 10 digs. Junior
Casey Curran tallied 25 assists. Curran and freshman
Bree Simmons provided NCCU's only two aces. Curran and White each supplied two block assists.
B-CU HIGHLIGHTS & STATS:Delicia Pierre, who entered the weekend as the league's top attacker, added to her strong senior season with 10 kills, eight digs, two aces and three blocks (one solo). Sophomore Rakaya Neely notched a team-best 11 kills. Senior setter Hazel Ortiz-Rosado contributed 30 assists and junior Ajsha Davis chipped in 11 digs.
SET-BY-SET:1ST: Bethune-Cookman won the first two points of the match and jumped out to a 10-3 lead and never trailed in coasting to the opening-set victory by 14 points. NCCU had its worst set on attack with seven kills and seven errors.
2ND: The Lady Eagles fell behind by nine before making things interesting with an 11-5 run to pull within three at 24-21, but a kill by Neely finished off a four-point win for the Wildcats. Murphy logged six kills and six digs in the frame.
3RD: A couple more kills by Murphy gave NCCU a quick 3-1 edge in the third the Wildcats rushed ahead for good by winning the next five points. Bethune-Cookman hit .500 (13 kills and only two errors on 22 attempts) in the set to complete the sweep.
OTHER NOTES, STATS & FACTS: Murphy (13 kills) moved ahead of Pierre (10 kills) for the league-lead in kills per set. Murphy increased her season average to 3.56 kills per set and Pierre slips to second at 3.52 kills per set.
Bethune-Cookman has won three straight matches against NCCU to take over the all-time NCAA Division I era series lead at 9-6.
UP NEXT: NCCU hosts non-conference Gardner-Webb University in its "Dig Pink/Breast Cancer Awareness" match on Wednesday at 7 p.m. For more information, fans are encouraged to visit
www.NCCUEaglePride.com.
