ELKINS, WV --The Virginia State Volleyball team (1-3) fell just two points short in the deciding set against Glenville State (26-24, 20-25, 25-15, 8-25, 14-16) to conclude their participation in the Davis & Elkins University's Top Hat Classic in Elkins, WV.


Amaya Cooper continued to prove her dominance after leading her team in kills for the second time this weekend as she finished with a career-high nine kills while her counterpart Helena Eubanks had eight kills. Jennah Kareem ended with a personal best eight kills as well. Najlaa Williams, Makenzy Johnson, Leyla Conley each had a pair of aces each. Emma Quarles (18) and Makenzy Johnson (18, season best) combined for 36 assists in the contest. Defensively, Leyla Conley earned a career-high four blocks while Amaya Cooper added three. Najlaa Williams (15) and Jennah Kareem (15) combined for 30 digs as Kareem added he second personal best of the day with her 15 digs.


Game Notes

• Amaya Cooper led the team in kills yet again as the true freshman posted a career-high nine kills along with three blocks.
• Jennah Kareem appeared to look very comfortable in the loss posting a season personal best of eight kills and 15 digs.
• Makenzy Johnson posted a season best 18 assists.
• Leyla Conley earned a career-high four blocks
• The Trojans out earned GSC 10-8 in blocks.
• VSU earned the minimal edge in blocks 7-6
• The Trojan earned a season-high 45 kills

 
 
How It Happened
SET 1 | The match started with fairly even momentum swings as both teams went on scoring runs until the score came to 9-9. The two would trade points through the middle of the set until the Trojans scored four points straight with kills coming from Leyla Conley and Helena Eubanks to make 16-12. GSC would then fight back to tie the score at 20. The Trojans scored four of the last five points to take the first set 26-24

SET 2 | Early on in the second set, Glenville State jumped out to a 5-1 lead. While the Trojans were able to cut the lead down to three points, GSC extended their lead out to 18-11. As GSC scored four of five points to get to match point 24-16, Virginia State made a late push scoring four straight but ultimately fell 25-20.

SET 3 | In the pivotal set three, the Trojans jumped out to a 12-3 lead thanks to seven straight points including kills from Amaya Cooper and Jennah Kareem. VSU went on to score seven of eight points, which helped them grow their lead to 19-6. Following the scoring run from Virginia State, Glenville State scored six of seven to bring the score to 20-12. While GSC fought hard to put points together, the Trojans ultimately closed out the set 25-15.

SET 4 | GSC came out looking to put the set away early taking a 8-1 lead. The Trojans gave a valiant effort to fight back but GSC continued to control the set 17-5. GSC played no games, scoring six of the last seven point closing the set out 25-8.

SET 5 | The deciding set started with seven straight points from the Trojans as Makenzy Johnson contributed two service aces while Helena Eubanks had a couple big swings that resulted in two kills to give VSU a 7-0 lead. Unfortunately, for the Trojans, GSC answered back with a seven-point run of their own to knot it up at seven all. Kennedy Hoge and Leyla Conley came up with a pair of well-placed aces to extend the Trojans lead out to 11-8. Feeling the pressure of letting the match slip away, Glenville State scored six of the next seven points to make the score 14-12. While an ace from Jennah Kareem tied the match at 14 all, Glenville State scored back-to-back points to take the deciding set 16-14


What's Next
Virginia State is set to open their home slate next Friday and Saturday, September 2-3 as they prepare to host the VSU Volleyball Classic which welcomes Elizabeth City State, West Virginia State, Shippensburg and Chowan in to the VSU Multipurpose for two days full of action packed collegiate volleyball.

 
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