ATLANTA, Ga. - After dropping a pair of conference matches on both Friday and Saturday at the SCAC Cross Divisional Tournament, Millsaps gave graduating seniors Colleen Kelly and Kim Fox a chance to go out on top as they defeated tournament host Oglethorpe University 3-1 on Sunday to close out the 2006 regular season.
Millsaps' undoubtedly young squad ends the season with a 13-23 overall mark and a 4-14 conference mark, good enough for eighth place.
On Friday against No. 24 Rhodes, Millsaps could never string anything together, dropping a three-game match 10-30, 19-30 and 18-30. Toni Manley led the Majors attack, picking up a team-high six kills, while Kelly, Fox and Susan Hoerauf each had two. Defensively, Dixie Krauss dug a team-high eight balls, while Manley added 1.5 blocks.
In the nightcap on Friday, the Majors fell in a tough five-game match to Centre College. After falling 30-32 in identical fashion the first two games, Millsaps rebounded to win games three and four (30-25, 30-26) to send the match to a deciding game five. In the fifth game, Millsaps trailed by just one point 8-9, before the Lady Colonels took six of the final nine points to win the game 15-12 and the match 3-2.
"We showed a lot of heart," second-year head coach Matt Linebarger said. "Our ladies fought hard and they never gave up after falling behind 0-2 to open the match."
In Saturday's matches, the Centre match on Friday obviously took the wind out of the sails for the Majors, as they could never find their groove in a pair of 3-0 losses to DePauw and Sewanee.
Millsaps, however picked up a big season-ending win against tournament host Oglethorpe on Sunday, dropping the Petrels 3-1 in the final match of the tournament. After falling 26-30 in Game 1, the Majors reeled off three-straight games to win the match.
"We started executing nicely and made numerous adjustments during timeouts," Linebarger said. "We played and worked well together."
Freshman Sally McCann had an all around nice game, contributing 45 assists, four digs, 1.5 blocks and four service aces. McCann ends her first season with the Majors as the conference-leader in total aces with 95 (0.79/game), 16 better than DePauw's Sherise Denny.
Millsaps as a team also led the SCAC in total aces with 408 (3.34/game), 51 better than second place Hendrix and nearly 75 better than four Top 25 teams.
Despite two losses to Div I Alcorn State and seven losses to Top 25 teams, the Majors showed a lot of fight throughout the entire season to finish 13-14 (.481) the remaining 27 games of the year, including a 9-9 record against non-conference opponents.
"I'm proud of the way our team continued to fight the past couple of weeks," Linebarger said. "With the number of freshman we started, we worked and played well together."
