TROY, Ala. – Jacksonville University volleyball split the opening day of the Troy Invitational on Friday.
The Dolphins (5-6) took a five-set tournament opener over Gardner-Webb, before dropping a five-setter in the evening to Alabama State.
MATCH ONE – Gardner-Webb
The Dolphins quickly rallied after falling behind early in set one, with a 6-0 run to take an 8-7 lead. The run featured a pair of aces by
Kariana Ayala-Drew and was capped off with a
Haley Hart kill, forcing Gardner-Webb to take an early timeout.
The set remained tight throughout, with
Julia de Sa showcasing her skill with a handful of kills to help keep it within one point until late. Down 23-22, JU took a timeout, and facing set point, rallied to tie it at 24 with a Rebecca Roccasin ace. From there, the Runnin' Bulldogs scored two straight to take the opening set.
In set two, after trading points to start, JU had a 4-0 run, with kills by de Sa,
Myah Robinson and
Lyric Love to take an 8-6 lead and force a Garner-Webb timeout. The run stretched to 6-1 out of the break, giving the Dolphins their biggest lead of the afternoon, 12-6. Hart,
Jenna McNamara had kills and Rocassin recorded her second ace of the match before a McNamara solo block capped a 3-0 run to push the Dolphin lead to 18-11.
After several errors by the Runnin' Bulldogs, Hart and de Sa kept the pressure on with additional kills and the Dolphins put away Gardner-Webb 25-15 to even things at a set apiece.
The third set remained tight throughout, with the teams consistently trading points. A couple of blocks by Love helped push the Dolphins lead to 18-15. After
Julia de Sa and
Haley Hart strung together consecutive kills late in the set, Gardner-Webb called timeout. The Runnin' Bulldogs got a quick point out of the break before McNamara forced set point with a kill. GWU rallied to close to 24-22, but McNamara closed it out to give JU the 2-1 set advantage.
JU fell behind to start the fourth set, and spent the first part digging out. The Dolphins rallied to tie the set at 13 on consecutive kills by de Sa and Hart. The Runnin' Bulldogs were able to keep JU at arm's length, taking advantage of a kill followed by a service ace to push the lead to 19-16. The Dolphins managed a late kill by McNamara and a block by Love to keep it close, but GWU took the set 25-22 to force a decisive fifth set.
Gardner-Webb used a 4-0 run to take an 9-4 lead early in set five, prompting a JU timeout. After a solo block by Rocassin, a Love kill and service error by GWU helped build some momentum for the Dolphins. Hart, Rocaasin and McNamara provided kills to fuel a 5-0 run to tie it at 13. The team's traded points, with a kill by Love tying it 15, an attack error giving JU the lead and Rocassin finished the victory with an ace.
JU was led in the match by Hart's 19 kills, Rocassin's 58 assists, Ayala-Drew's 24 digs and five blocks by Love. Rocassin hit the 500 career assist mark exactly in the match.
MATCH TWO – Alabama State
The second match of the day started even, with neither JU nor Alabama State able to find much separation early. After it was tied at nine,
Myah Robinson had a kill, followed by
Jenna McNamara and
Lyric Love chipped in her first block of the evening to spark a 3-0 run.
Alabama State came back to tie it, but McNamara recorded an ace to spark a 6-0 run, with JU going on to take the opening set 25-20.
A couple of early errors gave ASU the lead in the second set, and they managed to keep JU at bay for much of it. The Dolphins rallied to tie it at 16 on a solo block by Love, and held an 18-17 lead. The Hornets proceeded to go on a 6-2 run, with JU pushing set point multiple times, before falling 28-26.
The Dolphins took an early 5-1 lead, but the lead was quickly trimmed and it eventually tied at nine. The Hornets outscored JU 10-6, before finishing the set on a 5-2 run to take a 2-1 lead.
JU started the all-important fourth set by jumping out to an early lead. An ace from
Julia de Sa and a kill by McNamara pushed the advantage to 6-1 and forced an Alabama A&M timeout. Love chipped in back-to-back blocks to get the Dolphins to a 10-7 lead and
Rebecca Rocassin delivered a monster solo block to extended the lead to 16-9 and force the Hornets to take a second timeout.
ASU rallied to push the Dolphins to the limit, before JU put it away with a kill by de Sa and forced the decisive fifth set.
Haley Hart scored four of JU's first five points in set five, but Alabama State used a 4-0 run to take an 8-5 lead that the Dolphins could not overcome, falling 15-10 to drop the set and the match.
McNamara and de Sa had a team-high 13 kills, with Rocassin dishing out 42 assists.
Kariana Ayala-Drew led the way with 24 digs and Love had a team-best five blocks.
The Dolphins conclude the Troy Invitational tomorrow against the host school, Troy, with first serve set for 3 p.m.
