JACKSON -- The Millsaps College volleyball team opened the 2009 season with a four set loss to the Lady Lions from Piedmont College in the opening match of the Millsaps Invitational in The Hangar Dome.
Junior
Kate Hall led the Majors offensively with 14 kills, while
Dixie Krauss led the team on defense with 22 digs.
To start the first set, junior setter
Mallory Clark used stellar serving and some scrappy defense along with sophomore
Maggie Tumminello’s key kill and solo block to guide the Majors to an early 4-0 lead. The lead was short lived, as Piedmont rallied back to take the lead after kills from Nikki Cole.
Piedmont continued its strong play, and with the help of several Millsaps serving errors, took a commanding lead. Backed by Krauss’ strong serving though, Millsaps was able to even the match at 22-22, but were unable to stop Cole and the Lady Lions, who finished the set 25-23.
The serving woes for the Majors continued in the early stages of the second set and Piedmont jumped to a 10-6 lead after back-to-back service aces by the Lady Lions’ Katie Tucker. After a timeout by head coach Jaime Burns, Millsaps was able to capitalize on Piedmont hitting errors and get back into the set.
Hall continued to hit well for the Majors, who looked to close out the set on several occasions, but neither team could get consecutive points to finish. With the Majors leading 30-29, Tumminello finally got the ball to the floor, giving Millsaps the set and tying the match at one set.
In the third set, Piedmont jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Millsaps found a rhythm blocking with sophomores
Heather Keenan and
Kasey Laird each recording a block allowing the Majors to go ahead 6-5.
Neither team was able to take control of the set until the Lady Lions used timely hitting to take the lead 22-17. Despite a pair of late kills by Hall, Piedmont went on to finish off the third set by a score of 25-19 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Starting the fourth set, the Majors got strong play from freshman
Sarah Zito to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead, but the Lady Lions scored eight unanswered points behind Kalin DeMarrais’ sound play on the attack. Millsaps closed the gap initially, but was incapable of sustaining any momentum as Piedmont continued to gain control of the points and closed out the match by winning the fourth set 25-12.
The Millsaps volleyball team will look to quickly rebound from its season-opening loss in another match tonight at 7:30 p.m. against the Blazers from Belhaven College. The match can be viewed online in its entirety at
www.gomajors.com.