PENSACOLA, Fla. - Led by freshmen Kate Hall and Heather Keenan who earned All-Tournament Team recognition, Millsaps won 4 of 5 matches in the Pensacola Christian College Tournament this past weekend in Florida to improve to 6-12 on the season.
The Majors dropped the opener to Clearwater Christian 3-0 (25-30, 16-30, 19-30) before running off four-straight wins to end the weekend and advance to the championship match which they opted out of due to prior travel arrangements.
Hall hit .389 and picked up a team and match-high eight kills to lead the Majors to their first win of the weekend against Tennessee Temple (30-19, 30-11, 30-14) while the team combined to hit .301. Junior Sarah Exley hit .357 and recorded seven kills with freshman Hailey Miranda scoring 16 assists.
In the Friday nightcap against the 2005 & 2006 USCAA National Champions, Florida College, Keenan hit a blistering .325 from the floor with a season-high 16 kills to help the Majors come-from-behind and win in five (27-30, 27-30, 30-27, 30-24, 15-13).
Senior Ani Babinski and Hall picked up a season-high seven blocks apiece while the freshman trio of Erica Cook, Megan Dufresne and Miranda also had great nights on the defensive side of the ball, picking up 30, 29 and 25 digs in the victory.
Millsaps won its second-straight match in five games (19-30, 31-29, 30-19, 28-30, 15-13) the following morning against tournament host Pensacola Christian, battling back from a 19-30 loss in Game 1 to win Games 2, 3 and 5.
Freshman Constance Page led the Majors at the net with three solo blocks (one assisted) en route to 11 in the match for Millsaps. Three different Majors also recorded double-digit kills.
In the tournament closer, Millsaps overpowered the fairly new program Wesley College, winning in three by lopsided scores of 30-10, 30-9 and 30-6 after hitting a combined .386 from the floor. Freshman Victoria Romano posted a career-high .714 attack percentage to lead the Majors' offensive attack.
Freshman Mallory Clark posted the Majors' first double-double of the year in the win, scoring 27 assists and 16 aces while mid-season addition Marianne Smith picked up eight kills and two aces and sophomore Sally McCann added five kills, four aces, two assists and two digs.
Millsaps will step back into SCAC play this upcoming weekend, as they travel to Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., for the Cross Divisional.