Seniors Shine in Sweep of Royals

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. - It took a little bit to get things going, but once they go their footing, Union College volleyball rolled to an impressive 3-0 sweep of visiting Johnson University (Tenn.) in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play on Tuesday.

The 25-23, 25-14, 25-14 win puts the Bulldogs at 18-13 overall and 14-7 in conference play, while the Royals drop to 17-18 overall and 5-15 in the AAC.

SENIOR CELEBRATION

With it being the final home match of the season, the Bulldogs honored their eight seniors for their service. In turn, a number of the seniors showed out.

Allison Ruddick was a defensive magnet as she registered 38 digs, averaging 12.67 per set. Shayna Baugh hammered home a team-high 11 kills and had three blocks, while Alison Smith logged eight kills and 14 digs. Marissa Davis helped out with seven kills and four blocks, and Jordan Kusan helped out with 15 assists.

SLOW START, STRONG FINISH

Union got out of the gate a little sluggish as the first set went back-and-forth throughout. Johnson took a 23-22 lead, but three straight attacking errors by the visitors gave Union the 25-23 set victory.

The Bulldogs then returned to form and made sure to keep the match to three sets. Tied at 8-all in the second stanza, Union accounted for 17 of the final 23 points in picking up the 25-14 set win. The Bulldogs opened up an 11-4 lead in the third and never looked back, posting a 25-14 set win to complete the sweep.

WISE WORDS

"Glad to get the results we wanted to wrap up our AAC and home schedule," said head coach Jeremy Wise. "More importantly, it was great to see our seniors get a proper sendoff, and hopefully, they made lots of great memories along the way. I'm hoping next week we get fired up some more for a great tournament run in Kingsport."

BULLDOG NOTES

• Davis moved into 10th on the all-time career kills list in modern program history (2008-present). With seven tonight, she now has 645 for her career.
• Ruddick now has 697 digs on the season, putting her three away from becoming the seventh person in modern program history to amass 700 in a year.
• Baugh now has 124 total blocks on the season, ranking her fifth in modern program history.
• The seniors who were honored before the match were Ruddick, Baugh, Davis, Smith, Kusan, Cami Timm, Alicia Sikora, and Emma Haglage.

NEXT FOR THE BULLDOGS

Union is off until the AAC Tournament, which is set for Nov. 10-12 in Kingsport, Tenn. The tournament bracket will be announced on Friday.