Volleyball Holds Off Strong Start From Knights

By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media

WALESKA, Ga. – St. Andrews (N.C.) came out and surprised the Reinhardt volleyball team in set one on Saturday afternoon, but the Eagles were able to regroup and win three-consecutive stanzas for another Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) victory – this time 3-1 (21-25,25-11,25-16,25-12) – over the Knights at home.
 
With the triumph, the hometown team has notched five-straight positive outcomes and improved to 11-2 overall and 5-0 in the AAC."It was a little stressful to be honest, but it was also very good for us to see some adversity put on us by dropping set one," lead Eagle Brian Goodhind said. "We can try to practice 'situational' scenarios in practice all we want but having it happen in an actual match situation is so valuable. Just look up and down the stats after set one and to see how our team responded after taking SAU's best punch was pretty impressive in my eyes. Now on to Brenau on Tuesday and try to go 1-0 again. To God goes all the Glory."
 
The Eagles seemed sluggish out of the gate and St. Andrews took advantage by holding Reinhardt to only a .171 hitting percentage and forcing a half-dozen errors from their hosts. The script would then be flipped completely on its head as the hometown squad would put together a 20-kill set in the second period to open up the stanza, 17-4, before rolling on to tie the match at 1-1.
 
Reinhardt would continue to right the ship and regain its form to finish the contest going away. The Knights would only muster 28 total tallies in the final two periods combined, as the Eagles added 24 kills over the final two games and only a trio of errors.
 
Individually, Brittany Taksas had 10 kills in 12 attempts (.833) and the additional trio of Shelby Glawson (.538), Isabelle Breitbarth and Courtney Pressley (.500) all hit .500 or above.
 
Mar Vives was out front with 15 digs, while Carlee Baxter (24) and Erinn Marroquin (21) combined for 45 assists running the offense.
 
Stat Leaders Against the Knights
Kills       Tessa Colden (11), Brittany Taksas (10), Shelby Glawson (8)
Aces      Alma Vazquez-Nunez (5), Tessa Colden (1), Erinn Marroquin (1)
Blocks   Shelby Glawson (4), Isabelle Breitbarth (3), Tessa Colden (1)
Assists  Carlee Baxter (24), Erinn Marroquin (21), Mar Vives (2)
Digs       Mar Vives (15), Kelley Adkins (10), Tessa Colden (9)
 
The Golden Tigers of Brenau (Ga.) await Reinhardt on Tuesday evening as conference play continues in a 6:30 p.m. matchup.
 
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For more information on Reinhardt Women's Volleyball, please click here.