Tigerville, S.C.—The North Greenville volleyball team opened up a crucial two game home stand on Tuesday night with a 3-0 (25-14, 28-26, 25-23) triumph over the Valkyries of Converse College. Twin puts the Crusaders at 8-10 on the season, and 3-4 in league play.

The Valkaries who are winless on the season (0-17) started the game by sprinting out to an early6-1 lead over NGU. The Crusaders would settle down midway through to tie the game at 11 all. The Crusaders would take a commanding 16-12 lead, after scoring 5 straight points.

In set two, the Crusaders fought off 3 game points from Converse, en route to a 28-26 extra point win to take a commanding 2-0 set lead. The Crusaders led 14-10 midway through the set, but a Converse rally gave the Valkyries 17-15 lead, forcing North Greenville to use a timeout. The strategy worked as the Crusaders rattled off 3 straight points to take an 18-17 lead. The Crusaders wrapped up the win after scoring two straight points on a Rebekah Mayes Kill and a Converse Attack error.

For the Game, junior Rebekah Mayes, who had a double double with 16 kills and 11 digs, once again led the Crusaders. Myes comes off of a weekend in which she broke North Greenville’s all time kills record on Saturday. She now has 1071 career kills. Samantha Del Toro was 12-16 in kill attempts while Yomi Adeyeye had 8 kills. Madison Allen and Megan Steading both had 11 digs on defense while Abigail Frame picked up 10 digs and 32 assists. Elizabeth James led the Crusaders with 3 aces, giving NGU a needed spark off of the bench. As a team, the Crusaders were solid on offense recording a .326 hitting percentage.

The Valkyries refused to go quietly however, and led a majority of the third set. Converse took a 9-5 lead early in the frame, but the Crusaders would force the first tie of 4 at 15 all. The set would be tied at 16 all, 19 all, and 21 all, before the Crusaders took a 23-21 lead after kills from Lauren Seeley and Mayes. Converse once again battled back though to tie the game at 23, but the Crusaders remained defiant and scored two straight to take the set and match.

Freshman Katie Butler led Converse with 12 kills on 25 attempts. Aubrey Crosby was the leader in digs with 9 while Anna Williams and Michaela Evans had 3 service aces apiece. Evans and Kandace Griffin led the Valyries with 2 block assists apiece.

North Greenville will continue its 3 game conference home stand on Friday evening when they welcome the Flying Fleet of Erskine College at 7pm in Hayes Gymnasium.

Post-Game Interviews:

Rebekah-Mayes

Greg-Mosely