Monday, September 26, 2005

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Sept. 26, 2005) - The East Tennessee State volleyball team downed King College in dominating fashion Monday night, defeating the Tornado with a 3-0 shutout, in Brooks Gym.  The Lady Bucs overpowered King with 30-20, 30-15, and 30-27 wins, to improve to 9-5 on the year.

The Lady Bucs dominated from the start, with junior Jennifer Sartor (Toronto, Ontario) slamming three-consecutive kills to open the match with a 3-0 advantage in game one.  ETSU was able to control King for most of the evening, but the Tornado threatened in game three, scoring three-straight points, to bring the score to 29-27 before the Lady Bucs put the match away with an unassisted kill by junior Jennifer Emerson (Santa Clara, Calif.), ending game three at 30-27.

"I'm happy with the win," said ETSU head coach Lindsey Devine.  "I'm really happy that it was a total team effort and everyone got a chance to contribute to the win."

Sartor, the reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Week, paced the Lady Bucs with a match-high nine kills, followed by sophomore Callie Kiselich (Colorado Springs, Colo.) with eight, and junior Crystal Palmer (Chico, Calif.) with seven.  Kiselich led ETSU in hitting percentage, recording .667 on 12 attempts, the third-best output in program history.

Sophomore Michelle Mislan (Indianapolis, Ind.) also had a big night for the Lady Bucs, slamming five kills on just eight attempts, for an impressive .625 hitting percentage.

"Michelle Mislan came up big," Devine said of the sophomore.  "Tonight is a great confidence boost for her.  It just goes to show that at any given time, anyone can step in a do the job for us."

Emerson and senior Katie Longden (Fort Dodge, Iowa) were ETSU's top servers, both recording four serving aces on the night, a career-best total for both players.  Emerson was also the Lady Buc's top setter, dishing out 18 assists, trailed by Brittany Kessel (Libertyville, Ill.) with 13.

Chipping in on defense, Sarah Buhr (Stockton, Calif.) tallied eight digs and Emerson tacked on six.

ETSU hit .219 for the match, while holding King College to .024.  Lauren Perrin led the Tornado with eight kills, as well as 11 digs.  King is now 9-2 on the year.

The Lady Bucs are at home again with an A-Sun match on Saturday, Oct. 1, as Gardner-Webb visits Brooks Gym for a 2 p.m. start.  Brooks Gym has been good to ETSU so far this fall, as the Lady Bucs stand at 3-1 when playing at home.