Box Score Due West, SC – Erskine and Anderson are well on their way to building an outstanding rivalry as the Flying Fleet topped the Trojans 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 26-24, 18-25, 17-15) in women’s volleyball action at Belk Arena.
After bouncing back to claim second and third sets, Erskine (6-7, 5-2) slipped out to a 14 to 10 lead in the fourth set and appeared well on their way to closing out the match. Using an officials’ timeout to regroup, Anderson University (8-8, 1-5) rallied from the four point deficit to a four point lead at 20-16. The Trojans used back-to-back blocks to spark the rally. With game momentum well in hand, the Trojans cruised to a 25-18 win to force the decisive fifth set.
In the fifth set, neither team could take more than a one point lead. Erskine had the first opportunity to win the set, leading 14 to 13, but the Trojans got a kill from Tiffany Rowe and forced a Fleet attack error to gain the advantage at 15-14. Emerging from a timeout, Erskine rattled off three consecutive kills to seal the 17-15 victory. Senior Lauren Stewart tied the game at 15-15 on a massive overhand spike while fellow senior Larz Chabra caught the Trojan defense out of position with a quick strike to the corner from her setter position. Leading 16-15, senior Alicia Bragg drilled a bad set by the Trojans off the blocker’s hands out of bounds for the game point.
Both Stewart and Chabra finished with “double-doubles” on the night for the Flying Fleet. Stewart had 16 kills and 21 digs while Chabra had 46 assists and 15 digs. Freshman Kelly Sullivan knocked down 14 kills with no errors to finish with a .438 hitting percentage.
For Anderson, Shannon Gilliespie had 14 kills with 5 digs and Hailey Pittman had 11 kills.
Erskine goes on the road this weekend for three matches. On Friday, the Fleet travel to Tigerville, South Carolina, to play North Greenville University while on Saturday the Fleet make their way over the mountains to play conference-leading King College and non-conference opponent Carson-Newman College.
