BREVARD, N.C. - After locking up a bid to the 2015 South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Championship with a win on Friday night, Brevard was unable to earn a victory against Catawba Saturday in the final home match in the careers of Fatima Gharachorloo and Kindle Kirkham.
Gharachorloo is Brevard's NCAA-era kills leader after taking over the top spot in the record books in the second match of the season. She earned her 1,000th career kill on Oct. 27 and needs four kills to reach 1,100. She is also nine digs from becoming the third NCAA-era Tornado to reach 1,000 in the category and would become the first Brevard player to reach quadruple digits in kills and digs.
Kirkham closes the regular season with 203 career kills in two years with the Tornados after transferring from Lamar Community College prior to the 2014 season. She has been a key contributor at the outside hitter position and has an even 150 kills as the Tornados prepare for postseason play.
Both seniors will have the opportunity to play at least one more match, with the SAC Championship slated to begin on Friday in Anderson, South Carolina. The Tornados will await the announcement of the final bracket this evening, but are guaranteed to earn either the seventh or eighth seed in the single-elimination tournament.
The Tornados (12-16, 9-13 SAC) fell behind early after a 25-22 win by the Catawba Indians (15-14, 12-10 SAC) to open the match. Catawba wrested control away with a 6-0 run late in the set that was sparked by a Rachel Stanford and Erin Morant tandem block, turning a 16-all tie into a 23-16 Lady Indians advantage.
The teams traded the lead four times and were deadlocked 10 times during the second set, but the Lady Indians' .419 hitting performance with 17 kills proved too much for the Tornados to overcome. Catawba fell behind 20-19 on a block by Erin Barr and Hannah Elmore, who led the team for the second time in three matches with 10 kills and contributed a pair of blocks. But Catawba responded by rattling off six of the final seven points in the set to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Brevard fell behind on a brief 5-1 spurt by the Lady Indians in the third set, building a 14-10 advantage. The Tornados fought to stay in contention and closed the deficit to a single point on a Kirkham service ace late in the set, but the Lady Indians slammed the door with a 7-2 run to earn the 25-19 victory and the sweep in the match.
Barr had a four kills, 30 assists, five digs, and two blocks in an impressive all-around effort, while seniors Gharachorloo and Kirkham had nine and eight kills, respectively, in support of Elmore. Aleksandra Vrvilo had 18 digs from her libero position. She topped the 600-dig mark for the first time in her career, finishing the match with 615, while Barr is 28 assists shy of reaching 1,000 for the season.
Final seeds for the 2015 SAC Volleyball Championship will be announced after the conclusion of today's matches. A 5:00 p.m. tilt between Anderson and Wingate is the final match on today's conference schedule. Brevard's postseason opponent information will be posted to the volleyball schedule page at www.bctornados.com, as well as the Brevard Athletics social media profiles, when it is released by the conference office.
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