Trojans sweep conference rival Panthers

MOUNT PLEASANT ? The match was a constant battle, but ninth-ranked Fairfield pulled it all together while Mount Pleasant struggled to get all aspects of its game working at once in the teams? first Southeast Conference match of the season last night. The Trojans took the contest in three close sets: 25-23, 25-23 and 25-21.

The victory was sweet for Fairfield?s Sydney Howard, who was expecting to fight for every point against the Panthers? tall, powerful front row.

?The goal was just to get our blocks up,? Howard said. ?I think we expected them to hit down at us really hard.?

It was a reasonable expectation, considering that the Panthers returned their top two kill leaders from last season, Kelsi Phipps and Taryne Shull They also returned Elinor Krieger-Coble, a hitter who went out last season with a broken bone ? an injury that came during warm-ups at Fairfield before last year?s conference opener. All three hitters stand 6-0.

But the Panthers (2-4, 0-1 SEC) struggled to pull everything together in order to get the kills that Fairfield was worried about ? Krieger-Coble finished the match with a team-high 11 kills, followed by Shull and Phipps with five each.

?If the pass isn?t there, our setters are running around,? Mount Pleasant coach Luci Wulfekuhle said. ?Other times, it will be a really pretty pass, and the set will be off, or the hitters will miss.

?It was us, hands down,? she summed up. ?We gave Fairfield the game ? when we had our shining moments, it showed. We?re just too inconsistent right now, and we need to fix ourselves.?

On the other hand, while Fairfield also struggled through a few stretches, in the end, they pulled it together and took advantage of Mount Pleasant errors to claim the sweep.

?I think we did well all around, but had our ups and downs,? Howard said. ?It was nerve-wracking, the second game especially.?

In the first set, Fairfield scored the first point on an Erin Thompson kill and never relinquished the lead, despite pressure from the Panthers through the whole game.

But the second set was a different story.

This time it was Mount Pleasant who took the first point, with a kill by Lydia Smith.

The Trojans tied the score at 3-3 and went up 7-6. The Panthers took the back the lead at 8-7 on Krieger-Coble?s kill, and held on to it until Fairfield tied it up at 18 with a Hanna Greiner kill, one of three on the night for her.

Back-to-back kills from Krieger-Coble and Shull put the score back in the Panthers? favor, but their edge wouldn?t last.

Fairfield went on a four-point run that forced Mount Pleasant to call timeout with the score tied at 22.

An unforced Panther error gave Fairfield the lead, and though Krieger-Coble would slam down one more kill for a tie at 23, Fairfield finished out the set with a kill from Howard and a Sidney Baumann ace.

?Coming in, we knew Mount Pleasant was a tall team; we knew they had hitting power and blocking power,? Fairfield coach Nancy Diers said. ?We just wanted to cover our players, knowing that not everything we set up would be a kill. We wanted to focus on playing all the way through.?

With a 2-0 advantage going into the third set, Fairfield played with confidence.

The Panthers made a couple lineup changes for the last game, but the outcome was the same.

The teams were tied at three and again at seven. Fairfield took the lead at 9-8, but then Ashley Loving served the Panthers to a 13-9 lead, including one of her two aces on the night. She was aided by Krieger-Coble?s kill and a block from Krieger-Coble and Shull as the Panthers made everything work together for a stretch.

But then it was Fairfield?s turn for a run, and they knotted the score once more, this time at 15.

From there, it was the Trojans who controlled the game.

Howard and Baumann each had a pair of kills while Greiner and McKenna Ledger blocked a kill by Krieger-Coble, bringing the contest to game point and match point at 24-21.

The Panthers misplayed Cheyanne Laux?s serve to seal Fairfield?s win.

On the night, Thompson led the Trojans with 10 kills, followed closely by Howard and Baumann with nine each. Marisa Repp finished with five kills.

Alexis Ring had a team-high 15 assists and Burnett had 14.

In serving, Baumann went 13-14 with two aces; Ring was seven-for-nine with two aces; Howard was a perfect 11-for-11 with one ace, and Thompson was 10-for-13 with one ace. Laux went a perfect nine-for-nine and Burnett was 14-for-15.

Greiner led the team with three blocks, and Laux led with 20 digs. Burnett added 18 digs and Howard finished with 17.

?(Our biggest strength was) keeping the ball alive,? Diers said. ?(Also), a lot of players got hits ? we weren?t just strong in one spot. I thought we served well.?

For the Panthers, Kathryn Chabal led the team with nine digs, and Loving had eight. Loving also topped the team with 20 assists and went nine-for-10 in serving.

Linzie Hood and Chabal were each a perfect nine-for-nine on serves and Chabal served one ace; Shull went eight-for-nine with two aces.

Krieger-Coble, Shull and Phipps finished with two blocks each.

?All the elements are there,? Wulfekuhle said. ?There?s so much potential.

?They?ll get it done, they?re just not connecting yet,? she added. ?I?m very optimistic.?

Fairfield is now 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the SEC. The Trojans have a week off before hosting Washington on Sept. 6, but hopes that their victory over the Panthers will propel them to another conference win.

?(The match at Mount Pleasant was) the first conference match of the season, and it gives us momentum,? Diers said.

Fairfield @ Mount Pleasant

FAIRFIELD ? 25, 25, 25

MT. PLEASANT ? 23, 23, 21

Kills ? Thompson 10, Howard 9, Baumann 9, Repp 5, Greiner 3, Ledger 2

Assists ? Ring 15, Burnett 14, Ledger 2, Thompson 2

Serving ? Baumann 13-14 (2), Ring 7-9 (2), Howard 11-11 (1), Thompson 10-13 (1), Laux 9-9, Burnett 14-15

Blocks (solo-asst-tot) ? Greiner 1-2-3, Thompson 1-0-1, Howard 0-1-1, Ledger 0-1-1

Digs ? Laux 20, Burnett 18, Howard 17, Ring 6, Baumann 4, Thompson 3, Repp 1, Greiner 1