Sweet victory for the Skyhawks as they roll past the Royals
WEST POINT, Ga. (Oct. 14, 2022) - The Point University Volleyball team returned to West Point Park Gymnasium Friday afternoon for an Appalachian Athletic Conference matchup against Johnson University and won 3-0.
Play-by-play (25-19, 25-20, 25-16)
The Skyhawks started the first set with three straight kills to take the early three-point lead, but Johnson returned with four unanswered scores to take the lead 4-3. Sarah Baucham returned the favor to even the score for Point. An attack error gave the Royals the lead again until Sameily Marquez fired back with a kill. This resulted in two points for the Skyhawks as a miscue from Johnson and a service ace from Jordan Palmer brought their score to 7-5. Both opponents continued to even the score until the Skyhawks added three kills and took advantage of an attack error to now lead by three. Johnson continued to show grit as Sydney Johnson scored a kill for the Royals following their timeout. Point would get the upper hand by adding to their score with a kill from Abigail Hardwick along and then a block from Jadakate Judkins, along with Kelsey Turner, to push the Skyhawks ahead by six. The Royals looked for one last comeback as the set neared its ending but would be overpowered when Ava Clay and Sameily Marquez ended the set.
Service aces, attack errors from Johnson, and kills from Point saw the Skyhawks start the second set off with an early 6-0 lead to force a quick timeout. Johnson took the scoreboard after two errors from Point, but Baucham's kill extended the Skyhawks back ahead by five. The Royals started to find their rhythm when they scored three straight points to now trail 7-5. Point's offense continued to play a key component in this set as Kelsey Turner and Sameily Marquez tallied kills to move the Skyhawks ahead by five. Point added fuel to the fire by responding to two unanswered points with four kills and one service ace to now have their biggest lead of the night with seven. Johnson responded after the timeout by adding three points to now trail 14-10. The Skyhawks did not let this affect their play as they continued to tally more scores with kills from Hardwick and errors from Johnson. With the score now being 21-16, Kelsey Turner pushed Point closer to victory with a kill, but the Royals showed no quit in them by adding three unanswered scores to now trail by three. The Skyhawks would only allow one more point to fizzle out the Royals as they finished the set with a kill from Marquez.
The third set started off with both teams trading scores, with both teams even being tied at five, but Point found the edge they needed by going on a 5-1 run, which caused the Royals to use their first timeout. Two errors from Point gave Johnson two scores to now trail by two. As the Royals continued to try to chip away at Point's lead, the Skyhawks continued their firepower as Marquez and Hardwick helped add to their score with kills on their end. With the lead now 17-10, Jadakate Judkins added a kill, followed by a service error from the Royals. Marquez added three consecutive scores with two service aces and an attack error from Johnson to now lead by 10. The Skyhawks would only allow two more scores to finish off the set with a 9-point win to complete the sweep.
In the box
Sameily Marquez led the Skyhawks on the offensive end with 10 kills, and Abigail Hardwick followed with eight. Jordan Palmer tallied 25 digs on the defensive end, and Marquez contributed with 10 of her own. Paige Lowe tallied 28 assists for the Skyhawks in the matchup.
Up next
Point will return to action in the West Point Gymnasium for an AAC matchup against Union College on Saturday, Oct. 15, which starts at 10:00 A.M.