Photo Credit: Jennifer Jones - BSC Athletic Communications
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Brevard College Tornados Volleyball Team (0-3) opened up its 2019 season at the McAttack Bash, hosted by Birmingham Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. To open the year, BC squared off against the Rhodes College Lynx (1-0), an NCAA Division III team based out of Memphis, Tenn. The Lynx took the match in straight-set fashion, three sets to nil (25-14, 25-13, 25-18).
Friday's matchup was a rematch of last year's season-opener, where the Tornados and Lynx battled at the 2018 Rhodes College Invitational. Rhodes took last season's match in similar fashion, 3-0.
Sophomore Sydney Fox led all Tornados with seven kills in the contest. Freshman Breanna O'Shields tallied five kills in her Brevard College debut.
Libero Mariana Rodriguez racked up 19 digs to go along with an 11-dig effort from sophomore Morgan Graham off the bench. Fox and sophomore Brook Groves added eight digs to BC's efforts. Junior setter Hannah Gordon led all Tornados with 12 assists.
Rhodes jumped out to an early 8-2 lead before Brevard cut the Lynx' advantage to just 10-8 in the first set. From there, Rhodes outscored the Tornados, 15-4 en route to the first set win.
More of the same followed in the second set, as the Lynx jumped out to another early advantage, 10-3. Brevard once again battled back, cutting Rhodes' advantage to a 12-10 margin. The Lynx would not be deterred, however, stringing together a 13-2 point run to help them claim set number two.
The third set was tightly contested, with the Tornados holding a lead of 13-11 at one point in the frame. However, Rhodes reclaimed the lead, 14-13. BC tied the set 14-14, however, Rhodes never relinquished the lead from then on. The Lynx finished set three by outscoring the Tornados 12-4, claiming the straight-set victory.
The season-opening event continued Saturday with two matches for the Tornados.
BC opened with a 3-0 (25-12, 27-25, 25-13) loss to St. Catherine College before concluding the tournament with a straight-set defeat to host Birmingham-Southern.
In Saturday's first match, Raley Shirey led the BC attack with seven kills to go along with six kills by O'Shields. Gordon provided a team-high 10 assists while Rodriguez recorded 18 digs.
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