No. 17 Wallace State volleyball clinches 8th straight ACCC regular season title
HANCEVILLE, ALA. – Wallace State’s 17th-ranked volleyball team crossed one important goal off the list Thursday night, winning its eighth consecutive Alabama Community College Conference (ACCC) regular season title with a convincing victory over Faulkner State.
Four Wallace State players had at least eight kills, and the Lions extended their conference winning streak to 27 matches, prevailing 25-17, 25-18, 25-19 at Tom Drake Coliseum. The Lions haven’t dropped a single set to a conference foe over the last two seasons.
“As I’ve fortunately said many times, winning the regular season is harder than winning a conference tournament because you have to win on your opponents’ courts. Winning on the road is a big deal. Our players change from year to year, so I’m happy we’ve kept that streak going. We’ve just got to continue to win when it matters most,” said Wallace State coach Randy Daniel, who surpassed the 300-win plateau earlier this season and is the program’s all-time winningest coach.
A day after earning its highest national ranking of the season in the NJCAA poll, Wallace State (30-6, 13-0 ACCC) used a balanced attack to clinch the title. Freshman Cierra Davis led the way with 11 kills and five digs, CeCe Hall had nine kills, Kheala Roberts had eight kills and Kelsea Bivins finished with eight kills and eight digs.
Wallace State setter Alexandra Gamble, who was named the ACCC Player of the Week on Monday, contributed 34 assists.
“One of our strengths is we are big and physical on the net. It makes a difference for us and did against Faulkner State. When we pass and play defense, we can be really good, but when we don’t we are fairly average,” Daniel said. “We’ve just got to get healthier and get our legs under us before the conference tournament. We haven’t had much of break lately.”
With Thursday’s victory, Wallace State clinched the top seed in the ACCC/Region 22 conference tournament, which will be hosted by Gadsden State on Oct. 31-Nov. 1. Wallace State will seek its seventh straight conference title.
Wallace State also blanked Andrew (Ga.) College on Thursday night, winning 25-17, 25-5, 25-15.
Roberts led Wallace State with 11 kills and three blocks, Hall had seven kills and Bivins and MaKenzie Bearden each had six kills and a pair of digs.
Tara Miller finished with 29 assists for the Lions, Savanna Tidwell had five digs and Jamie Pittman collected four digs.
Wallace State is hosting its annual Fall Bash on Friday and Saturday.
Wallace State wraps up conference play Wednesday at Gadsden State.
For more information about Wallace State athletics, visit athletics.wallacestate.edu.
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Russell Moore
Staff Writer
Wallace State Community College
P.O. Box 2000, Hanceville, AL 35077
1-866-350-9722 256-352-8443 direct
Visit us online at www.wallacestate.edu
Kristen Holmes
Communications & Marketing Director, and
Administrator, The Evelyn Burrow Museum
Wallace State Community College
801 Main Street NW | Hanceville, AL 35077
E-mail: kristen.holmes@wallacestate.edu
Office: 256.352.8118 | Cell: 256.339.2519 | Toll Free: 866.350.9722