No. 23 VB Drops NCAA Match to CofC, 3-2
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 23 Miami volleyball droppedits opening-round NCAA Tournament match in five sets to College of CharlestonFriday at the O’Connell Center. The contest was played on the campus of theUniversity of Florida.
TheCougars, champions of the Southern Conference, won by the scores of 25-22,21-25, 19-25, 25-22 and 15-10. UM lost its first five-set match of the year,having won the previous four.
TheCanes finish the season at 25-6 overall, reaching 25 wins for the third time inthe last five seasons. It was the fourth-straight NCAA appearance for theprogram.
Junioroutside hitter Taylor Hollins led the Canes with 17 kills to go with 12 digs topick up her team-leading 18th double-double of the season. Sophomoreoutside hitter Savanah Leaf also had a double-double with 18 digs and 13 kills.
Playingin her final match as a Cane, senior setter Nrithya Sundararaman put up 54assists to finish her career with 2,358, third-most in program history.
Leadingthe charge in the back row, junior libero Ryan Shaffer recorded 21 digs. Upfront, junior right side Alex Johnson notched a career-high 10 blocks, whilefreshman middle blocker Awele Nwaeze set a personal best with seven kills on 15attempts.
Afterdropping the opening set, the Hurricanes responded by winning the next two togo up 2-1 in the match heading into intermission. However, CofC won ahard-fought fourth set and put together late rally after the score was tied atseven in the fifth to seal the win.
Thelost snapped Miami’s streak of 14 consecutive wins on neutral courts, with thelast defeat coming to FIU in 2009 in the NCAA Tournament at the O’ConnellCenter.
DarcyDorton had a match-high 27 kills on 71 attempts to lead College of Charleston(27-7).
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