Volleyball sweeps road trip with 3-0 win over USC Upstate

Volleyball sweeps road trip with 3-0 win over USC Upstate

The Dolphins increased their winning streak to five matches as senior outside hitter Sara Bendorf tallied her second straight double-double to lead the JU volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-23) win over USC Upstate, Saturday afternoon at the Hodge Center.

Sophomore middle hitter Brittany Lehman

JU (7-4, 4-1), which swept its first road trip against ETSU and USC Upstate, hit .300 (45-15-100) in the contest and tallied a match-high eight team blocks. USCU (3-9, 1-4) hit .123 (31-18-106) in the match.

"Everyone hit well today and we had a well balanced offensive attack but we need to develop more consistency," said JU head coach Shaun Kupferberg. "We have a big weekend coming up so now we can shift our focus there. We need to work on gaining ground on the conference leaders."

Bendorf tallied a match-high 17 kills and 10 digs to run her double-double total to five for the year. Sophomore outside hitter Aidan Yeager finished with nine kills, a .467 (9-2-15) hitting percentage and three blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Brittany Lehman tallied five kills, a .625 (5-0-8) hitting percentage and a match-high four blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Abby Gruenbacher also added a match-high four blocks while junior libero Shelley Walroth notched a match-high 25 digs.

Sandra Campbell led the Spartans with nine digs and two blocks while Holly Mauldin tallied 21 assists and seven digs. Jane Hawryliw also added a team-high .364 (5-1-11) hitting percentage.

In the first set, Upstate jumped out to a 7-2 lead after four consecutive errors by the Dolphins (one service, three attacking) and then increased the margin to 10-4 on another attack error by JU. The Dolphins answered with a 5-1 run, capped by a an attack error by Kelsie Queen, to cut the deficit to 11-9 and then cut the margin to one point on seven occasions until another attack error by Queen evened the contest at 20-20. Both teams traded points until JU used a short 2-0 run, fueled by a pair of kills by Bendorf, to take a 23-21 lead. After a kill by Jovana Lubura, the Dolphins got a kills by Bendorf and junior middle blocker Nicki Kent to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

In the second set, both teams battled through five ties until JU opened the flood gates with an 8-0 run to open a 15-7 lead. The Dolphins increased the margin to 19-10 on a kill by Lehman before scoring the final six points of the set to take a 2-0 lead.

In the final frame, both team went through seven ties until Upstate used a 3-0 run to take a 12-9 advantage. JU answered back to tie the contest, 15-15, after an attack error by Angie Varnum which would lead to three more ties in the set. The Spartans broke the stalemate with a 4-0 run to take a 22-18 lead but the Dolphins came storming back with a 7-1 run, fueled by three consecutive attack errors by Upstate, to seal the match.

JU will return to Swisher Gymnasium for Atlantic Sun Conference this week beginning with Belmont on Friday at 7 p.m. The contest can be viewed live on ASun.TV.