After long string of road matches, Wallace State volleyball cruises past Southern Union in conference home opener
HANCEVILLE – Having played 11 consecutive matches away from Tom Drake Coliseum and most of those in highly competitive tournaments, Wallace State’s volleyball team was eager to enjoy the comforts of its home court Wednesday afternoon.
The Lions didn’t disappoint, cruising to a 25-16, 25-16, 25-14 victory over Southern Union in their conference home opener. Wallace State (10-7, 4-0 ACCC), the four-time defending ACCC/Region 22 state champions, remains perfect in league play.
“We’ve been traveling a lot, so it’s good to be back home and in a normal environment. We’re still looking for consistency as a team. We’re making too many errors, both ball control and hitting errors. We’ve got to get a lot better at that,” said Wallace State coach Randy Daniel. “We’re searching all the time to find that consistency and to have certain players step up.”
Wallace State, which has 11 freshmen on this season’s team, went winless over the weekend in a high-profile tournament in Panama City, but easily could have finished with wins in three of four matches.
“Playing good teams is obviously going to make you better if you are doing the right things, so that’s encouraging. We lost three 5-set matches. We were right there the entire weekend. We easily could have been 3-1, but we weren’t,” Daniel said. “We’ve got to use those matches as learning experiences and use it to our benefit in conference games.”
Wallace State peppered Southern Union with a balanced hitting attack Wednesday. Syretha Pride, Kianna Delaney and BreAnna Thompson each led the Lions with nine kills.
Delaney added eight digs, Blaise Brown finished with 21 assists, Montana Clark had 12 digs, Olivia Walker contributed seven kills and six digs, Rosemary Wendel had five digs and Taylor Tragila added five assists.
Wallace State continues conference play Thursday at home, hosting Jeff Davis at 2 p.m.
For more information about Wallace State athletics, visit wallacestate.edu.
Pictures: Wallace State setter Blaise Brown successfully dives for a loose ball during the team’s victory over Southern Union at Tom Drake Coliseum on Wednesday.
Syretha Pride prepares to serve in Wallace State’s match against Southern Union.
###
______________________________
Russell Moore
Staff Writer
Wallace State Community College
P.O. Box 2000, Hanceville, AL 35077
1-866-350-9722 256-352-8443 direct
256-352-8314 fax 256-339-2422 cell
Visit us online at www.wallacestate.edu