GREENEVILLE, TENN. - The Brevard College Tornados (2-6, 2-2) streak of back-to-back South Atlantic Conference wins came to an end Friday night in Greeneville, Tenn. as the Tusculum Pioneers (5-2, 2-1) beat the Tornados in straight sets for the first time this season in conference action.
Junior middle hitter Rachel Ruble (Advance, N.C.) led the Tornados attack with eight kills, turning in a match high two solo blocks to go along with two blocking assists. While senior Savannah Cox (Kannapolis, N.C.) contributed seven kills on the evening while hitting a match high .438.
In addition to Ruble and Cox, junior Hannah Elmore (Salisbury, N.C) and Callie Chappell (Rosman, N.C.) collected six and four kills on the evening, respectively. While junior setter Erin Barr (Hamptonville, N.C) turned in a match high 24 assists to go along with six digs and one kill. Barr currently ranks fourth in the conference with 280 total assists, while averaging 8.48 assists per set.
Senior libero Aleksandra Vrvilo (Beaverton, Ore.) recorded a game high 14 digs as the senior currently ranks fourth in the SAC with 146 digs on the year.
Brevard would complete the match with a 7-4 blocking advantage as the effort currently puts the Tornados top-five in the conference with 10 solo blocks on the year.
In the opening frame of the evening the Tornados would battle back from down 18-12 to even the opening frame at 21-21 before the Pioneers capitalized on kills by Sarah Bouley and back-to-back strikes by Laryssa Welch to take a 25-21 opening set win.
The Tornados came close to tying the match in the second frame, as the point came to a 25-25 tie before a service error by Stephanie Lambert (Florence, Ky.) and a kill by Aubrey Hawkins would give Tusculum a 2-0 edge heading into the third set of the evening.
Coach Anna Wagner's squad would not go quietly, however, as down 2-0 the Tornados battled back from a 16-5 deficit to even the match at 23-23, capitalizing on a Pioneers -.027 third set hitting percentage and a Tornados 18-7 run added by three kills from Cox and two service aces from Lambert. Despite the dominating run, Tusculum would close out the set with three straight points to take a close 26-24 win.
The Tornados will look to get back above .500 tomorrow September 17 at 2 p.m. as they tangle with the Mars Hill Lions on the road in Mars Hill, N.C.
