Box Score Due West, S.C. – The Erskine Flying Fleet dropped their final regular season game, losing the first place showdown with the Crusaders of Belmont Abbey College 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 24-26, 14-25) in Conference Carolinas women’s volleyball action at Belk Arena.

To the excitement of the home crowd, the Fleet opened the match with a convincing 25-17 win in the first set.  Erskine broke the early deadlock to grab a 10-7 lead on two aces by sophomore Caitlin Bullock (Lexington, SC, White Knoll High School) and a kill by freshman Kelly Sullivan (Wellington, FL, Wellington Community High School).  Erskine’s offense kept rolling, propelling the Fleet to a ten point lead at 21-11.  The run was highlighted by three consecutive service aces by senior Bailey Thornton (Pauline, SC, Dorman High School).  Erskine had 7 service aces in the opening set and 13 aces in the match as the Crusaders had difficulty throughout the set handling the Fleet’s serves.  Bullock led the Fleet with 4 kills.

The Crusaders tightened their defense, especially on service returns, to limit the Flying Fleet to 2 service aces and 10 kills in the next set.  Belmont Abbey snatched an early 8-4 lead behind kills by Hannah Schellenberg and Caitlin Hankins and a service aces by Lydia Schellenberg.  The Fleet bounced back to close within one point at 13-14 but unfortunately the Crusaders responded with a 4-0 run to retake a five point lead at 19-14.  Belmont Abbey won the set 25-20 to tie the match 1-1.  Senior Lauren Stewart (Hartwell, GA, Hart County High School) knocked four kills along with one block to lead the Fleet offensively.

Looking back the third set proved to be the decisive one.  Erskine slipped out to an early four point lead at 10-6 on a kill by Stewart and a Crusader attack error.  The Abbey slowly crept back tying the game at 15-15 on a kill by Lydia Schellenberg and took their first lead at 16-17 on a kill by Tori Jensen. The Fleet turned to their senior outside hitter as Stewart blasted back-to-back kills to tie the game again at 18-18.  Neither team grabbed more than a one point advantage as the game until the final two points.  With the set tied 24-24 the Crusaders scored the last two points on a Fleet service error followed by a kill by Angela Jubb to win 26-24.  Stewart had 6 kills and another block to lead the Fleet offensively while Thornton recorded 11 of her career and game-high 24 digs.

With the momentum in their favor the Abbey snagged an early four point lead at 7-3 to force Erskine Head Coach Heather Vahjen to call an early timeout.  Having regrouped her squad, the Fleet stayed within four points as neither team could score more than two points at any given time.  At that point, the Crusaders caught fire offensively closing out the set on a 8-1 run to seal the 3-1 match victory.  Sullivan had three kills in the final set to lead the Fleet.

Overall Stewart led the Fleet with 14 kills while Bullock had 12 kills.  Senior setter Larz Chabra (Mt. Pleasant, SC, Wando High School) recorded her twelfth “double-double” of the year with 33 assists and 13 digs.  In addition to Thornton’s career-high 24 digs, sophomore Megan Johnson (Little River, SC, North Myrtle Beach High School) turned in her third consecutive double-digit dig performance with 11 while senior Brooke Dodge (Duncan, SC, Byrnes High School) also had 10 digs on the back row.

The Abbey had three players finish “double-doubles” on the day.  Hannah Schellenberg led all attackers with 16 kills while earning a “double-double” with 12 digs while Lydia Schellenberg earned 15 kills and a team-high 15 digs.  Angela Jubb had a stellar all-around game with 10 kills, 10 digs, 2 service aces, and 3 blocks.

The Fleet concluded their regular season at 15-12 overall and 13-3 in conference.

Entering today’s game, both Erskine and Belmont Abbey were tied along with Queens University for the best record in the conference and were seeking home-court advantage throughout the upcoming Conference Carolinas Championship Tournament to start next Saturday, November 17^th.  Both Erskine and Belmont Abbey need help as Queens University holds the tie-breaker against both Erskine and Belmont Abbey.

Erskine already earned the #1 seed from the Western Division in the upcoming Conference Carolinas Championship Tournament and will host Barton College, the #4 seed from the Eastern Division, next Saturday, November 17^th.  Game time is set for 2:00 p.m.

Belmont Abbey must await until Tuesday for the outcome of the Queens University and Lees-McRae that was postponed from earlier this season.

There is no admission charge to all home Erskine volleyball matches.