Hurricanes Fall to Sacramento State
Sept. 16, 2005
CORAL GABLES, <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Fla. – The University of Miami volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season when it fell to Sacramento State, 3-0 (30-26, 30-19, 30-24) in the second match of the Orange and Green Challenge Friday evening at the Knight Sports Complex. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
The Hurricanes snapped their six-match winning streak falling to 5-1 on the season while the Hornets extended their winning streak to five and improve to 6-5 overall.
Ninth ranked Louisville held off MichiganState, 3-2 (23-30, 30-22, 28-30, 30-27, 15-10) in the opening match of the tournament late Friday afternoon.
Karla Johnson moved to within two kills of reaching the 1,000 career kills mark. The senior outside hitter recorded her third double-double of the season when she posted a match-high 18 kills and 13 digs. Redshirt-junior middle blocker was the only other Hurricane to register double-digit kills, slamming down 10, while junior setter Jill Robinson dished out a match-high 34 assists.
On the defensive end, junior libero Ann Gallo set a career-high when she tallied 20 digs to lead all players.
Both teams battled toe-to-toe in the first game, swapping one point leads. But, with the Hurricanes up 26-24, the Hornets used a late rally to take the lead for good winning the game 30-26.
With the score tied at 9-all, game two had the makings of another battle but Sacramento State took advantage of three Miami miscues to take the lead, eventually running away with a 30-19 victory.
The Hornets returned to the court for game three with momentum on their side, quickly taking an 8-4 lead before the Hurricanes rallied to tie the score at 11-all. With the score at 15-13, the Hornets then reeled off eight-straight points to jump to a 22-14 lead. Miami pulled to within four but could not solve SacramentoState as the Hornets took the game 30-24 and the match victory.
The Hornets took advantage of 29 Miami attacking errors, holding the Hurricanes to their worst hitting percentage of the season (.109). Miami topped SacramentoState in kills (44), assists (42) and digs (54) but were out-blocked by the Hornets, who totaled 12.0.
Leading the Hornets were Atleed Hubbard, who posted 11 kills and 13 digs for a double-double, Natalie Melcher, who dished out 33 assists and Lindsay Haupt, who posted a match-high eight block assists.
The Orange and Green Challenge resumes tomorrow with Sacramento State taking on #9 Louisville at 9:00 a.m. The Hurricanes square off against MichiganState at 11:30 a.m.
