Eagles Fall to 0-2 in Pool Play

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Eagles were unable to climb out of a 2-0 hole against Southern Wesleyan University in their second match of play in the NCCAA National Tournament Pool B.  Asbury made a valiant effort but came up short, losing in four 2-25, 23-25, 28-26, 25-27.

Seventh-seeded Asbury (42-9) fell to 0-2 in pool play while tenth-seeded Southern Wesleyan (26-13) improved to 1-1 in pool B.  Asbury will play second-seeded Palm Beach Atlantic and sixth-seeded Dallas Baptist on Friday.

The Eagles struggled with their attack for the second straight match, hitting only .092 against Southern Wesleyan, while the Warriors hit .129. Lindsay Ibold led the Eagles with 11 kills against the Warriors and Kelly Cole recorded 38 digs.  Cole’s performance is the fourth highest dig total in a single match in school history. 

Asbury fought off match points in the each of the third and fourth sets but while up 25-24 could not close out the fourth set. 

A five-set thriller fell against the seventh-seeded Eagles in their opening match of the 2011 NCCAA National Tournament, as third-seeded Trinity Christian rallied from down 2-1 to win in five. 

Asbury (42-8) hit over .200 in both sets that they would win, the first and third but would hit under .200 including a negative hitting percentage in the second and fifth sets.  The Eagles would take a 14-7 lead in the fourth but the Trolls (34-9) would rally back to take the set 25-21. 

Trinity would go on to take the fifth set 15-6.  The first four set scores were 23-25, 25-15, 19-25, 25-21 in favor of Trinity.

The Trolls’ Kaitlin Feddema led all players with 18 kills in the match, hitting .348.  Taylor Lee and Jessica Wiltjer were also in double figures with 13 and 10 kills.  Asbury had three players in double-digits as Brittney Rader led the team with 14.  Dena Busse added 11 and Sarah Sterling had 10.  Trinity hit .232 for the match while the Eagles hit only .120.

Kelly Cole recorded 37 digs in the match, only three away from the school record of 40 set by Becca Blaine in the NCCAA National Tournament back in 2005.  Mackenzie Burke added 29 assists and Jessie Bartlow had 19.  Busse would add four service aces as the team collected eight in the match.  Trinity would collect 14 total blocks led by Betsy Holman’s nine assisted and one solo.

This was the first meeting for Asbury against both Trinity Christian and Southern Wesleyan.  They will face Palm Beach Atlantic for only the second time ever on Friday and will meet Dallas Baptist for the first time.