The Lady Bruins volleyball team opened preseason play on Thursday night in Hickory, North Carolina, as the team dropped back to back exhibition matches to Catawba Valley Community College (NJCAA) and Montreat College (NAIA).
"We are still young and inexperienced," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "Our players are working hard and have good attitudes and will only get better as we move forward."
Throughout the night, the Bruins played a variety of offensive systems and continued to rotate players in both matches. As each match went on, the team continued to steadily improve as players began to get more and more comfortable playing together.
For the first match, the Catawba Valley Community College Red Hawks took the court against the Bruins. The Red Hawks jumped out to an early lead and the Bruins couldn't seem to recover as CVCC took the opening set 25-15.
In the second set, the Bruins regrouped and found their offensive touch as Laura Gaston came up with several kills while the freshman duo of Katherine Ring and Morghanne Sitton provided several kills as well. Still, the Red Hawks found an answer to each Bruins run and took the second set 25-16.
The Bruins came out strong in the third set and found good combination play to be able to string together consistent runs. The Red Hawks came back and the two teams went down the stretch with just a few points separating them. Eventually, the Red Hawks were able to hang on to win the third set 26-24 and the match 3-0.
With a short break, it was right back to action as the Bruins battled the Montreat College Cavaliers in their second exhibition of the evening. Another slow start hurt the Bruins in the opening set and the Cavs took advantage to win the set 25-10.
Katherine Ring came up big for the Bruins in the final two sets as the freshman had 9 kills in the match. Still, the Cavaliers made the plays when they needed to as Montreat edged the Bruins in the 2nd set 25-23. In the third set, the Bruins got great defensive play from Morghanne Sitton and Lauren Johnson as the pair combined for 21 digs in the match. This defensive play fueled the Bruins offense as the team rallied to win the third set 25-20. Still, Montreat held the edge in a 2-1 decision.
"I was extremely encouraged to see our new players stepping up and contributing against good competition," Coach Denny said.
Next up, the Lady Bruins will be on the road again for their final exhibition match of the preseason August 23 at Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee.
