Lady Vols Assure GRAC Conference Title with a Win over Lake Land

Lady Vols Assure GRAC Conference Title with a Win over Lake Land

Monday night at Brewer Gym the volleyball team won a critical conference showdown with Lake Land College 25-12, 25-18, 23-25, 25-11. The match win guarantees the Vols a second consecutive GRAC Conference title.

Sophomore Setters Shelbey Saye and Taytum Murdock were under pressure all night from a Lake Land team that intentionally targeted them on defense. Both of them were up to the task and each finished the night with 17 digs. That defensive effort to cover Lake Land's tips made a huge difference in the outcome of the match. In addition, Shelbey led the team 24 assists and 2 Aces. Taytum also had a great night setting with 20 assists.

The setters led a balanced offense that had 4 players register double digit kills for the night. Olivia Hallet and Kameryn Sillmon led with 13 kills each. Bryleigh Buchanan and Kim Hall were just behind with 12 each. "The setters did an excellent job distributing the ball tonight. It prevented Lake Land from double teaming any particular hitter. The result was a very efficient team hitting efficiency of .315. We would take that kind of performance anytime," said Coach.

Defensively, middle hitter Kameryn Sillmon led at the net with 6 blocks, and Libero Alanis Below led with 18 digs. Team defense was very solid on the floor averaging 22 digs per game. Although Lake Land made a concerted effort to tip balls to open areas on the court, defensive adjustments and quality level of hustle and defensive effort were able to nullify that strategy. "Tips usually present significant defensive problems for us. Although it wasn't always pretty, our team did a great job of covering them tonight," said Coach.