SALISBURY, N.C. - In an emotionally charged match against head coach Kelly Burdeau and assistant coach Jordan Raye's alma mater, the Brevard volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to earn a 3-2 victory in the team's second-to-last match of the season.
Like the two teams' meeting in Brevard on October 10, the match was pushed to five sets as Brevard (11-17, 5-16 SAC) recovered from an early deficit before a dramatic two-point victory in the fifth set to close the match.
The decisive frame featured both teams recording eight terminations, while Catawba (7-21, 5-17 SAC) notched a pair of team blocks and outhit the Tornados by 27 percentage points. But service aces by Aleksandra Vrvilo and Erin Barr coupled with a Catawba service error, a ball handling error, and a bad set helped the Tornados to a 16-14 victory.
Brevard led by as many as four points as Vrvilo's ace made the score 10-6. Catawba was able to close the gap, forcing a timeout as three straight points deadlocked the score at 12. Brevard scored the next two points, but called its final timeout as two more Catawba points on a ball handling error and a kill knotted the score at 14. Fatima Gharachorloo got her 14th kill of the match to push Brevard ahead, then Barr ended the match on her second service ace to give the Tornados another emotional victory over Catawba.
Without the Tornados' fourth-set heroics, however, the match would not have gone the distance. Brevard stormed out to an early 8-1 lead, but found itself deadlocked with Catawba again moments later as the Lady Indians rallied to tie the score at 11. Brevard was forced to call its final timeout after three straight Catawba points trimmed the Lady Indians' deficit to a single point at 21-20, but four consecutive Brevard points sparked by a Gharachorloo kill sent the match to a decisive fifth set.
While this meeting featured many parallels to the matchup 28 days ago, the largest dissimilarity was each team's runaway victory in the first two sets. Catawba, which was limited to a .129 attack percentage by a Brevard defense that racked up 88 digs and six team blocks, jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage with a 25-12 victory. Brevard was limited to a -.070 hitting percentage in the set and committed 10 attack errors.
The Tornados would return the favor in the second set, however, hitting .323 with 12 kills as Brevard earned a 25-12 win. Gharachorloo, who finished tied with Catawba's Haley Lanier for the match lead with 14 kills, did a great deal of her damage in the set, totaling four kills on 11 attempts with just one error.
The final three frames, however, were much more competitive. In a third set in which neither team could gain a significant measure of separation, Brevard used a Lady Indians' ball handling error to tie the set for the 10th time. Catawba scored two straight points to take the 2-1 match lead.
Brevard stormed out to an early 8-1 lead in the fourth set, but found themselves deadlocked with Catawba again moments later as the Lady Indians rallied to tie the score at 11. Brevard was forced to call its final timeout after three straight Catawba points trimmed the Lady Indians' deficit to a single point at 21-20, but four consecutive Brevard points sparked by a Gharachorloo kill sent the match to a decisive fifth set.
After earning their first win since a sweep over Queens 27 days ago, the Tornados will look to end their season on a two-match winning streak as Brevard travels to face the same Queens team in Charlotte on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
