NEW ORLEANS -- Xavier University of Louisiana overcame 45 errors, 31 by its attackers, to earn a 25-21, 25-15, 22-25, 25-20 women's volleyball victory against Concordia (Mich.) on Saturday.
Chinedu Echebelem, who did not record her first kill until a first-set-clinching shot, finished with 13 kills, 17 digs and four assists for the Gold Nuggets (11-3). It was Echebelem's seventh double-double of the season, her third in a row and fifth in the last six matches.
Jodi Hill, reaching double figures in kills for the second consecutive match, had 11 of them and five blocks for Xavier. Franziska Pirkl posted her career-best third consecutive double-double with 36 assists and 13 digs, and she served three of Xavier's seven aces.
Alisha Anderson had 15 kills, 11 digs and three aces for Concordia (8-15).
Xavier hit .112 -- its lowest in a victory since the second match of 2011 -- and no primary attacker hit higher than .185. (Pirkl, the Nuggets' setter, hit .250 in 16 swings.) But Xavier limited the Cardinals to .108 hitting and benefited from 46 Concordia errors, 12 on serves.
Xavier had an 89-66 advantage in digs -- Darian Harris had 23, CeCe Williams 16 and Kayla Jones 13 -- and led 49-36 in kills.
The Gold Nuggets used a 12-2 run to take control after trailing 9-5 in the second set and got kills from Echebelem, Hill and Pirkl to take a 22-18 lead in the third and close in on a sweep. But Concordia extended the match by scoring the final seven points of the third, three on XU attack errors.
Xavier trailed 4-1 in the third but righted itself with a 6-0 run which included a Williams ace and a block and a kill by Hill.
The Gold Nuggets have won 10 of their last 11 matches. The only blemish was a five-set home loss to Spring Hill on Friday. Spring Hill played Concordia at XU prior to the Nuggets' match and beat the Cardinals 25-10, 25-7, 25-12.
Xavier will be on the road for a 7:30 p.m. Tuesday match at the University of Mobile. Xavier's next home match will start at 1 p.m. next Saturday against Tougaloo; Echebelem will be honored on Senior Day.
Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
No comments:
Post a Comment