M. Nienaber - Millsaps Sports Information
JACKSON, Miss. – The Millsaps Volleyball team won all four of their games this weekend in the Millsaps Invitational to remain undefeated on the young season.
The Majors (5-0) took the first match from the Faulkner Eagles 3-1, winning set two 25-9, set three 25-18, and set four 25-20 after dropping the opening set 20-25. Junior Kasey Laird led the way with 15.5 points, including 14 kills in the match.
Match two saw the Martin Methodist Redhawks attempt to halt the Majors’ momentum, and they came closer than anyone all season. Game two needed a full five sets to determine the winner. The Redhawks took the opener 25-18, but Millsaps regained their footing to take the following two sets 26-24 and 25-23. The fourth set had to play out to 27-25 before the Redhawks could even the match at two sets apiece to force the final frame. In that set, however, the Majors turned it up a notch and earned their third win 15-8 to take the 3-2 match victory. This time Laird and Maggie Tumminello tied for the top spot on the scorecard, each with 15.5 points in the match.
The Invitational concluded this afternoon with two more wins for the home team, as Millsaps took the 10:00 game from Schreiner University 3-0 and the final game of the tournament 3-1 from Loyola of New Orleans.
The Mountaineers couldn’t keep up offensively with the Majors as Millsaps took the first set 25-19, the second 25-11, and the third 27-17. Laird and Heather Keenan led the attack for the Majors with 11 points each against Schreiner.
Loyola gave the Majors stiff competition early on stretching the first two sets to 25-20 and 25-21 before winning the third set 25-16 to force a fourth set. Once again with the match on the line the Majors offense stepped up and took control of what would become the final set and put down the Wolfpack 25-15 to close the tournament. Tumminello pulled in the high point total with 15 for the match, Laird finished strong again right behind her at 14 points.
Coach Jamie Burns was very happy with her team’s effort over the long weekend. “Our defense and blocking were huge factors all weekend” keeping the opposing teams back on their heels and rarely able to mount any sustained challenges. “Our setters really spread the ball well to all of our attackers and that balance coupled with the strong defensive effort gave us the edge we needed to close out some of the closer matches.”
The Majors will return to the Hangar Dome on Tuesday to host the Belhaven Blazers for a single match. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Full stats for this weekend’s matches will be posted as soon as they are available.