Memphis, Tenn. – The Golden Eagle Women's Volleyball team defeated the Kentucky Wesleyan Wildcats handily in straight sets to open their season on Friday afternoon.
JUST THE BASICS: Score: Charleston 3, Ky. Wesleyan 0
Location: Memphis, TN
Team Records: Charleston: 1-0 (0-0 MEC); Kentucky Wesleyan (1-1)
Match 1: HOW IT HAPPENED:
Friday afternoon looked to bring promise to the young season of the Golden Eagle Women's Volleyball team and to first year head coach Tyler Kanelos. The girls looked to respond from a disappointing season last year and prove their abilities this year by opening the year with a straight set victory. Some key newcomers would be the spark that the ladies needed to get their season started off right.
The Golden Eagles took the first exchange from the Wildcats, winning by a score of 25-21 in their first true set of the season. The girls eased into their first set of the regular season with help from a leadoff service ace from Maria Hernandez. From there, the Golden Eagle girls would continue to roll for the rest of the match. The second set was still a bit shaky for the Golden Eagles. However, the ladies were able to shake off some of the nerves of the first set and roll to a second set victory by a score of 25-22. Both teams would exchange points for most of the set with the daggers coming from 2 kills by Sage Bearnson late in the set to give Charleston the victory. With a 2-0 lead heading into the third set, the Golden Eagles would look to finish the job. This set would be much less of a contest as the Golden Eagles handily defeated the Wildcats by a score of 25-9. The high-powered offense of Charleston, accompanied with some costly mistakes by the Wildcats, gave the Golden Eagles their first win of 2021. First year head coach Tyler Kanelos was happy to get the first match of the year under his belt and walk away with a big victory in Memphis. Charleston was led in kills by freshman Jenae Thomas and sophomore Sage Bearnson. The heavy hitters were assisted solely by sophomore setter Maria Hernandez, who collected all 30 assists in the match. Lilly Trump would lead the Wildcats in kills with 7. Third year starter Mckenzie Carpenter would lead both teams in aces with 4.
Match 2: HOW IT HAPPENED
Just The Basics:
Score: Charleston 3, CBU 0
Location: Memphis, TN
Team Records: Charleston: (2-0) (0-0 MEC); Christian Brothers University (0-2)
The game break between the two matches turned out to do nothing to slow the momentum of the red-hot Golden Eagles. They rolled in straight sets for the second match in a row behind an all-out offensive attack.
The first set of the final match at Canale Arena was all Golden Eagle. Charleston rolled in the first by a score of 25-14. The offense was once again clinical finishing the first set with a .500 hitting % while attempting 3 fewer attacks than the Bucs.
The second set was much of the same. The Golden Eagles rolled to an early lead from points by McKenzie Carpenter and Sage Bearnson. Again, the Buccaneers had a greater amount of attacking chances but were unable to convert due to stellar defense by the Golden Eagles and some mistakes by the Bucs offense.
There was no stopping the Golden Eagles in the third set either as they would go onto dominate again, winning by a score of 25-19. McKenzie Carpenter continued to show her offensive prowess. She ended the match with 9 kills on 11 attempts giving her an .818 Hitting %.
Jenae Thomas and McKenzie Carpenter both ended the match with 9 kills each and Sara Bearnson finished with 12. McKenzie Damon was stellar on defense, racking up 13 of the 31 digs from the Golden Eagles. In total Charleston outscored the Buccaneers 75-47, leading to their second straight victory of the young season.
After the match head coach Tyler Kanelos commented on his girl's performance saying, "I was glad to see the offense mesh well together for the first time and ecstatic to see how the team would adapt to a challenging opponent tomorrow. Assistant coach Ruben Lopez also gave comments after the match saying, "I was very impressed with the efficiency of Kenzie tonight" and "we hope to play well again against an opponent who will give us our toughest test of the year".
UP NEXT: Charleston will take on Southern Baptist tomorrow in the first match of the day in Canale Arena at 10am. Live Stats: https://cbubucs.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
