Taylor Johnson named All-Tournament, Lady Bison Come Up Short
By Jasmine King, Volleyball, Public Relations Major '13
GREENSBORO, NC – The last tournament of the season is finished; the Lady Bison (1-12) continue to fight for a win ending the Spartan Spiketacular Tournament 0-3.
The first match of the day was against the host team, UNC Greensboro Spartans (5-8). Set scores for the match were 23-25, 25-23, 11-25, 21-25. The Lady Bison out-blocked the Spartans 6-4 and ended with a higher hitting percentage in the match, but couldn't finish with enough set wins to take the victory.
Offensively, senior outside hitter Tosin Elebute had 14 kills followed by Senior Athlete Gabrielle Martin with nine kills. Martin managed to compete at every position this weekend. Freshman middle blocker Assata Conway put down seven balls for the team. Junior setter Jasmine King dished out 20 assists and recorded nine digs, just short of a double double. Freshman setter Stephanie Shultis put in 21 assists for the team.
Defensively, Riana Cain picked up 14 digs.
Big hitters for the Spartans were Karrian Chambers and Holland Hoefnagel both with 14 kills; Chambers with a double double picking up 10 balls on defense. Libero Kellie Orewiler finished with 21 digs.
After a tough loss against the Spartans, the Lady Bison took a moment to channel their thoughts to pull together in hopes of capturing a win in their next match against the Memphis Tigers (11-2).
Though Memphis put up a huge block, Elebute still managed to find room to put down 16 balls. Taylor Johnson, who received all tournament team, found the floor six times for six kills. Conway contributed four kills for the Lady Bison.
Defensively, Jasmine King picked up a team-high of eight digs and 15 assists.
The Lady Bison came up short after a momentum change in the third set taking the Tigers to 27 points. Set scores were 19-25, 16-25, 25-27.
Altrese Hawkins had 10 kills for the Tigers. Vesna Jelic and Maja Kostic picked up 10 balls on defense.
This was the final tournament of the season for the Lady Bison, and marks the last tournament for seniors Tosin Elebute, Gabrielle Martin, and Taylor Johnson. "The seniors really stepped up today," head Coach Dawn Barnes says at the end.
The Lady Bison travel to Towson this Tuesday still in search of a win.