Miami Defeats Alumni In Annual Event
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – For the third straight year of its existence, the current players defeated the alumni in Miami volleyball’s annual Alumni Match with a 3-1 victory Saturday afternoon at the Knight Sports Complex.
After taking the first two games 30-24 and 30-18, the alumni bounced back with a 30-24 win in game three before the current squad completed the win with a 30-17 win in the fourth and final game.
The Hurricanes were led offensively by sophomore Genny Mayhew and junior Bridget Bomhack, with both players reaching double-digit kills. Mayhew led the team with 12 kills while Bomhack recorded 10 on 18 attempts, finishing with a hitting percentage of .389.
“I thought Genny Mayhew really had an excellent day, having an all-around game and doing all the little things for us, UM head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch said. “I was also very pleased with the way Bridget was able to a stabilizer on the court and also score.”
In addition to Mayhew and Bomhack, setter Katie Gallagher performed well in her first match at Miami, tallying 39 assists, four service aces and a team-high 11 digs.
“I’m very pleased with the way we looked for the most part today,” Lantagne Welch said. “I thought we had a very efficient middle attack running and Katie did a nice job setting.”
Preseason All-ACC middle blocker Ciara Michel finished the match with nine kills while Angelica Ellis and Ashley Woods ended with seven and six respectively. Woods also led the team hitting .462 while ranking second among all current players with six assists and Michelle Bruin finished with three kills, three aces and nine digs.
“I thought that we did a lot of nice things and it also pointed out some stuff that we can work on to get ready for our first match next week,” said Lantagne Welch. “It was a great trial run for us and I think we can definitely make some great strides from this point.”
Marcela Gamarra led the alumni team with eight kills while Karla Johnson added seven. Mallory James and Jill Robinson split the setting duties with James picking up 11 assists and Robinson adding 10. Jamie Grass finished with a team-best 10 digs and Valeria Tipiana led both teams with seven total blocks on the afternoon.
The Hurricanes will open the regular season at home next weekend when they host the Orange and Green Challenge at the Knight Sports Complex. Miami will welcome Hofstra, Jacksonville and Butler in the round-robin style tournament, Aug. 24-25.
