BREVARD, N.C - The Brevard College volleyball team hosted its final home match of 2022, honoring its senior setter Grace Pukas in a special pre-match ceremony on Tuesday evening at the Boshamer Gymnasium. The Tornados (3-19, 1-12 USA South) earned the first-set win before falling in three-consecutive sets to the Greensboro College Pride (16-10, 10-3 USAS) in a 3-1 match defeat (26-24, 20-25, 20-25, 23-25).
Pukas, a senior from Valrico, Florida, was honored prior to the start of the USA South contest. The senior setter is an Exercise Science major and will be graduating in the Spring of 2023 with a Bachelor's degree in Exercise Science with minors in Psychology and Coaching.
Junior outside hitter Makenna Parkins totaled a match-high 18 kills, with Ashley Hoxit and Kaitlyn Pressley each adding nine kills apiece. Pressley totaled a team of 20 assists with 10 digs on the defensive end. Hoxit added 12 digs, with Bailey Lance leading all Tornado defenders with 13 digs. Lance also led the Tornados with two service aces, while Logan Priddy distributed 18 assists.
Greensboro was led by Payton Shiflet, who drove home 15 kills. Jaylyn Templeton distributed a match-high 41 assists, while Lauren Mantel totaled 21 digs.
The first set was one of the most contested stanzas of the entire match, as both sides battled through six ties and three lead changes. Brevard battled back from an early 9-4 deficit to take the lead as big as four points, 19-15. BC pushed its lead up to four points once more, 22-18, before the Pride scored four out of five points to cut the deficit to just one, 23-22. Greensboro was able to tie the set at 24-24, but the Tornados used a Pride attack error followed by a Pressley kill to earn the first set victory, 26-24.
Brevard maintained the lead throughout the second set, leading late by four points, 18-14. However, the Pride rallied, scoring nine of the last 11 points in the set to tie the match with a 25-20 second set win.
Greensboro controlled the third set from the beginning, leading by as many as nine points before holding off a late Tornado rally to take the 25-20 victory. The two teams played a back-and-forth fourth set that featured six ties and four lead changes. The Tornados led late with a two-point lead, 18-16, but the Pride used a 7-1 scoring run to take a 23-19 lead. Brevard used three-straight points to cut the deficit to just one point, but a Tornado attack error gave Greensboro the 25-23 set win to clinch the match, 3-1.
The Tornados will take part in a USA South Conference quad match in Misenheimer, North Carolina on Saturday, hosted by Pfeiffer University. Brevard will face Mary Baldwin University at 12 p.m. before taking on Southern Virginia University at 2 p.m.
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-BC-