The University of Mary Washington volleyball team overcame some early jitters and some late adjustments from Randolph-Macon College to defeat the Yellow Jackets, 3-0, in the second round of the NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament on Saturday at Ron Rosner Arena. The Eagles improve to 30-3 on the year, and advance to tomorrow's regional final aginst Juniata College at 2:00 p.m.
UMW continued to attack the ball accurately, with a .398 hitting average for the day, with 46 kills against 13 errors in 83 attempts.
In the first game, play commenced with the teams trading points, and neither side leading by more than one until the Eagles scored two straight to lead, 8-6. After the Yellow Jackets trimmed the margin to one at 13-12, UMW scored five straight, with freshman Savannah Powers gaining two kills, to claim an 18-12 lead. The cushion remained at six until 21-15, but the Eagles closed the game with four straight points to take the first, 25-15.
The second game saw UMW take an early lead of 11-7, and four straight points gave the Eagles a 15-7 lead. The Eagles built the lead to 10 at 20-10 on an Emma Olson service ace, and UMW used a Peyton Dunow kill and Ryan Cho ace to claim the second by a 25-14 score.
The third game saw the Eagles build a 9-4 lead, before the Yellow Jackets answered with four straight. UMW regained a three-point lead at 13-10, but again RMC rallied, taking five of the next six points to claim the lead at 15-14. Following an Eagle score, the Yellow Jackets then scored three straight to build an 18-15 lead.
Next was UMW's turn to rally, as the Eagles scored three straight, keyed by a Skyler Sisk kill and another Olson ace to knot the score at 18. The action continued to escalate as RMC followed with two points, chased by two Eagle points to tie the matter at 20. The Yellow Jackets used some Eagle errors to build a 23-21 lead, but again UMW responded, this time with three straight to take a 24-23 lead.
RMC followed with three straight points to take a 25-24 lead, and the teams traded the next few points to draw the score to a 27-27. The Eagles closed the game and match by scoring three of the final four points, with a Powers ace finishing the action, 30-28 in favor of the hosts.
Powers had 15 kills against two errors in 25 attempts to go with four digs, while Dunnow had 14 kills against three errors in 20 attempts, and added 10 digs. Olson scored 37 assists, three kills, two aces, and eight digs, while Cho posted three aces and nine digs.
The Eagles will face Juniata College on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the regional final. Juniata topped Johns Hopkins in four games in earlier action at Rosner Arena on Saturday. The winner will advance to the national quarterfinals next weekend in Oshkosh, Wisc.