Sports

COTTON BLOSSOMS SWEEP GOLDEN LIONS IN VOLLEYBALL

By Sean Saunders/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 9:50 AM CDT

MONTICELLO — The Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions knew they were in bad shape when they trailed 11-1 to start the match. The Arkansas-Monticello Cotton Blossoms continued to pour it on from that point en route to a 25-8, 25-15, 25-10 sweep Tuesday night.

UAPB finished with more errors than kills on the attack, leading to a negative hitting percentage. The only game where the Golden Lions didn’t finish on the negative side of hitting was in the second, which also happened to be their closest.

On the flipside, UAM hit more than .350 for all three games. The Blossom attack erupted for 14 kills and only two errors in the first game to hit .480. UAM finished with a hitting percentage of .411 for the match.

Junior transfer Jalynn Thornton led the way for UAM with 10 kills on just 14 attempts. She also committed just one error to finish with a .643 hitting percentage and contributed to more points with a pair of service aces and an assist.

“She had a great night,” UAM coach Nicole Smith said. “She’s got a great arm. When she transitions well and sees the court well, she has a nice angle shot.”

UAPB did have one standout performer who didn’t even crack the stat book until the second game. Senior Jenitra Shields contributed five kills and committed only one error to lead the team with a .286 hitting percentage. Shields hit .429 to lead the Lady Lions’ second-game effort.

“It doesn’t take one person,” UAPB coach Kawanza Bibles said. “It takes the whole team. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell them. It takes the whole team.”

UAM would have had a skunk in table tennis when a strong opening service by sophomore Vikki Crisco that included a pair of aces allowed it to go up 7-0. The Blossoms put together runs on the next two servers, leading to a 16-3 lead. UAM refused to relent after that, and senior Maegan Martin fittingly ended the first game with an ace, epitomizing UAM’s strong service effort the whole night.

“We served well in the tournaments leading up to today,” Smith said. “We have lots of people who can go out there and get aces. I think that’s something we worked on during the offseason and during two-a-days heading into the season.”

UAPB held its only lead of the match when junior Philana Hemlee recorded a kill to begin game two. Hemlee led UAPB with six kills.

However, the Golden Lion lead was short-lived as they committed a service error and three attacking errors to give the lead right back to UAM. The difference remained around the four-point mark for most of the second game until the Blossoms went on a 5-1 spurt at the 12-8 mark to build a comfortable lead.

Another fast start allowed UAM to build another sizeable lead of 14-3 in the final game. Then when the score was 15-5, the Blossoms went on a 7-0 run to all but clinch the game, benefitting from a solid service from junior Mallory Storm that included an ace. UAM finished with 11 aces in the match after finishing with 18 in the previous match.

Crisco continued to contribute following her opening service. She assisted on 23 of the team’s 37 kills and racked up four set kills, including three in game two. She also picked up a rare block assist as a setter.

UAPB hosts Southwest Athletic Conference foe Grambling State next week while UAM travels to Henderson State on Thursday for Gulf South Conference play.

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