BRADENTON Fla, - New College women's volleyball triumphed over the Florida Memorial Lions in their second home game of the season.
Following a 3-1 road loss to Southeastern University, the Banyans came home to lift their conference record back above .500, beating the Lions in a 3-0 contest.
The Banyans started strong in their last three matches, and this one was no different as New College scored five straight en route to a 25-16 set one victory. Leading the initial five point run was defensive specialist Mariana Saba, who led the Banyans in service aces with six.
The second set followed the same script as the first, with the Banyans going up 5-0 on an attack once again led by Saba from the service line. The set would begin with a dominant service line performance and it would end in the same fashion, as setter Ashley Palmer scoring the set point off an ace to make the score 25-14.
Up two sets, the Banyans opted to give their depth pieces some additional playing time, opening the door for Florida Memorial to compete with the updated lineup. The two teams stayed neck and neck on the scoreboard before New College stretched ahead to win the final set 25-21.
Outside hitter Anne Downs maintained her role as the teams' kill leader with eight throughout the contest. Behind her flashed the depth of the team, with three different Banyans all recording seven kills in the match (Szuba, Hoffmann, Casey). New College performed well from the service line with 12 aces, and the defense held firm only allowing 51 points on the day.
"I think defense did a great job today," commented head volleyball coach Lynn Burnett while talking about the win. "There was only one ball I think that dropped that was a tip that missed. Everything else had at least two touches on it."
After struggling to receive serves against Southeastern University, the Banyans only had two service errors against the Lions, with coach Burnett crediting her team's work in practice as a reason for the improvement.
"We did a lot of work in practice this past week to get ready for today," shared Burnett. "Mindset, focus, and just making sure that those that are passing next to each other, that they knew clearly what their assignments were and they did that effectively today."
After improving to 2-1 in the conference, the New College women's volleyball team will head to Miami Gardens to take on the #11 ranked St. Thomas University Bobcats on September 21st.
