BUENA VISTA, VA. — Over the weekend, the Southern Virginia University Women's Volleyball team were named the Regular Season Champions, locking in the No. 1 seed, and will host No. 8 seeded Pfeiffer University in Knight Arena Tuesday night for the first round of the conference tournament.
The Series:
Both teams will meet for the third time this season, and fourth all time, with the Knights holding a perfect 4-0 record over the Falcons.
Last week, Southern Virginia traveled to Pfeiffer's campus for a Saturday morning quad match, with the team coming away with a hard fought sweep.
In the match, sophomore Sydney Hopkin led all players with 14 kills, followed by Courtney Pinkston with 12 while Sage Matheny distributed the ball well, dishing out 33 assists. Emma Steiger kept the ball in the air, recording a game-high 13 digs.
Southern Virginia struggled to get offensive production going in the first set, finding themselves down 16-11, after the Falcons used a 6-0 run off two Madison Honeycutt kills.
The Knights tied the set up at 20 following a Sage Matheny ace, and quick 3-0 scoring run moments later topped off by a Pinkston ace, gave the team the 23-21 lead.
After Pfeiffer forced overtime, Brenna Clyde and Sydney Hopkin wrapped up the first with back-to-back kills to put the team ahead 1-0, taking the set 26-24.
Both teams traded blows in the second, with the set knotted at 13, but Hopkin brought life back into the team, starting a 5-1 scoring run to go ahead 20-15. Hopkin would go on to record the final kill of the set, giving the team the 28-26 set victory, and the 2-0 lead in the match.
Midway through the final set, with the game tied at 13, Brenna Clyde got things with a kill, beginning a 4-0 scoring run to the Knights up 17-13. Two points later, Southern Virginia kept the pressure going, using a 6-3 run to make the new score 23-18. Two final kills from Hopkin and Pinkston completed the sweep for the team, taking the final set 25-19.
Impact Players:
The senior duo of Courtney Pinkston and Emma Steiger will be the glue to the team, leading the team on both ends of the ball.
Pinkston enters the game ranked No. 4 nationally in total kills with 460, and total points with 550.5 while sitting No. 20 nationally in total service aces with 67.
On the defensive end, Emma Steiger ranks No. 7 nationally in total digs with 605, No. 25 in total aces with 66, and No. 31 in digs per set with 5.35.
The pair will need to continue putting up the numbers they have been all season to keep the momentum in the team's favor, allowing everyone else to have confidence to make plays of their own.
Game Details:
The opening serve is set for 6 pm in Knight Arena. For the most up to date information regarding Southern Virginia University Women's Volleyball, visit knightathletics.com and follow the team on Instagram @knightwvolleyball and on Twitter @knightwvolley.
