Rader Leads Eagles Past Patriots

WILMORE, Ky. – For the second straight night the Eagles started slowly but they rallied again to put away Cumberlands (Ky.) in four sets on Friday night.  Asbury’s 25-20, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17 win is their sixth straight and 26th overall.

Asbury (26-2) had a negative attack percentage of -.048 in the first set with six kills and eight errors, and getting down 6-0 at the start.  The Eagles’ attack got steadily better each game and they finished the match with a .136 attack percentage.  Brittney Rader led the team for the second straight night with 12 kills.  Rader leads the team with 228 kills on the season. 

Asbury dropped the second set as their comeback bid fell short.  Cumberlands broke open a tight early game to take a 21-16 lead late.  Asbury would rally to tie it at 23-23 but after a timeout from the Patriots, Cumberlands would score the last two points on a bad Asbury set and a kill from Mariah Gray.

The Eagles would bounce back to take the final two sets in convincing fashion.  For the second straight night the Asbury defense would come up big recording 84 digs.  Hannah Wheeler and Kelly Cole provided 19 and 18 respectively.  Mackenzie Burke led the Eagles with 21 assists.

Asbury will head to Richmond, Indiana to take on Indiana East on Tuesday October 26th at 7:00 pm.  The winner will take complete control on the KIAC and barring any unforeseen upsets will be the regular season champion and number one seed in the tournament.