Appalachian State Volleyball Kicks Off Mountaineer Classic with Split Matches

The App State volleyball team shared victories on Day 1 of the Mountaineer Classic, taking down ETSU 3-2 (16-25, 25-20, 25-27, 25-15, 15-13) on Education Day in the morning, then falling in three hard-fought sets (27-29, 20-25, 20-25) to Kennesaw State in Friday night’s match.

Application Status 3, ETSU 2
In front of an Education Day crowd of 1,288 fans and local elementary school students, junior Maya Winterhoff and sophomore Maddie Smith led the team with 15 kills each. Winterhoff, who has a .464 shooting percentage, also led the team with four blocks, while Smith was two away from a double-double with eight rebounds. Freshman Julianna Horta led the team in assists, recording 27, while junior Kennady Roper had 10 rebounds. The Mountaineers had 57 kills to ETSU’s 52, 55 assists to ETSU’s 43 and 45 rebounds to ETSU’s 38.

The match started off shaky in the first set, as App State scored just 16 points, but the Mountaineers were resilient, fighting back in a tight second set. A 3-0 run late in the second set, including a kill by Winterhoff and an ace by Smith, gave the Mountaineers a 17-16 advantage. Riding on a kill by freshman Elise Marchal, three kills by senior Lulu Ambrose and Smith, and an ace by Ambrose, the Mountaineers reached set point and won the second set 25-20.

In the third set, App State rallied from a five-point deficit with a 7-0 run to beat ETSU 15-13. Late in the set, App State took a 21-19 lead on a 3-0 run that included deadly plays by Winterhoff and Marchal, as well as a solo block by Ambrose. ETSU rallied for a 4-0 run to take the match point (24-22), but the Mountaineers tied the game at 24-24 and 25-25 before ETSU secured the set win 27-25.

In the fourth and fifth sets combined, the Mountaineers held ETSU to 13 kills while scoring 22 kills on offense. App State took a commanding 9-2 lead in the fourth set and extended it to 14-5 with a five-point scoring run. While ETSU struggled to find momentum, the Black and Gold jumped out to a 23-12 lead with another 5-0 run, including a block by Winterhoff and Smith and a kill by Winterhoff. A kill by Smith gave the Mountaineers set point, and an ETSU error sealed the set for the Mountaineers, 25-15.

App State maintained a steady lead over ETSU in the final set until a 4-0 Buccaneers run gave ETSU a 12-11 lead. Smith and Ambrose responded with killer shots, followed by an ETSU error that helped the Mountaineers earn the set and a match point. The Buccaneers managed to hold App State to one match point before Ambrose scored a killer shot to seal the set, 15-13, and the match, 3-2.

Kennesaw State 3, Application State 0
Smith led the Mountaineers in digs (13) and kills (8), while Horta recorded her fourth of five matches as the Mountaineers’ leader in assists, registering 16. Sophomore Ava Leahy led the team in blocks, with four. App State lost to Kennesaw State by just two points in the first set and five in the last two sets.

The Mountaineers and Owls battled point for point in the first set, with both teams scoring no more than 4-0 runs apiece. Despite the Mountaineers reaching set point first, Kennesaw State tied the game at 24-24. Leahy’s deadly drive tied the game at 26-26, and after KSU took a 27-26 lead, Ambrose tied the game at 27-27, but it wasn’t enough as the Owls won the first set 29-27.

In the second set, Winterhoff tied the score at 6-6 with a killer shot, but the Owls responded with a 5-0 run to take an 11-6 lead. App State cut the deficit to two points with a four-point run featuring blocking by Marchal and Leahy and Ambrose and Leahy. The Mountaineers managed to keep the Owls close until Kennesaw State reached set point with a 4-0 run (24-18). Two more killer shots by Leahy kept the Owls at set point, but the Owls won the set 25-20.

App State took an early 5-2 lead in the third set on two deadly drives by Smith and Marchal and two errors by Owl. KSU managed to catch up, tying the score at 14 before going on a 5-0 run to take a 19-16 lead. Deadly drives by Smith and Ambrose, in addition to an error by Owl, brought App State to within one point (20-19), but Kennesaw State scored three points to take the lead and ultimately win the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.