Sept. 10, 2011

Box Score

NC State 3, East Carolina 0 | Charleston Southern 3, East Carolina 2

WILMINGTON, N.C. - East Carolina closed out its time at the Hilton Garden Inn Mayfaire Tournament Saturday, falling to NC State in three sets before losing a five-set marathon to Charleston Southern at Hanover Hall.

Sophomore Shelby Beasley picked up a career-best and program-record 32 digs in the loss to the Buccaneers, upping her season average to 4.08 per set. Three Pirates reached double figures in kills during the match as senior Britney Roper, classmate Jackie Varnum and redshirt junior Kelly Derby put down 16, 13 and 12 respectively. Sophomore Kasey Kavanaugh posted ECU's first double-double of the season, dishing out 35 assists and collecting 10 digs.

East Carolina out-hit CSU .165 to .158, but the Bucs recorded 65 kills as compared to the Pirates' 58. Charleston Southern also held the slight advantage on defense, producing 92 kills while ECU put forth 87. The Pirates also ended up with a 13-9 edge in blocking.

A very tight first set ended up with the teams tied at 13 after 26 rallies. However, the Buccaneers scored four-straight off the serving of Morgan Hadden to surge in front and cruise to the 25-18 frame victory.

The second interval began similar to the first, with the teams knotted at 11. A 3-0 run by CSU forced a timeout from the East Carolina bench, but a Varnum kill allowed the Pirates to deadlock the score at 18. Sophomore Hannah Allgood gave ECU a 20-19 lead with a service ace, but a Roper attack error knotted the proceedings 21 apiece. Roper redeemed herself with a kill on the next play and Wynter Davis followed with a miscue of her own, pushing the Pirates in front by two. Derby gave East Carolina set point with a kill before a bad set was called on Kirsten Struksnes to end things.

The Bucs took the slight advantage out of intermission, establishing a two-point lead which it would keep until Erin Lavenice put up a bad set to make it 11-11. A Kayla Klinger attack error afforded ECU a 20-18 advantage, but the Bucs responded with two kills to draw a Pirate timeout. CSU would hold its first set point at 24-23 but Struksnes committed a service error to ensure extra points. The Pirates fought off four Buccaneer set points before Roper and Varnum put down kills to put East Carolina on the verge of claiming the interval, but Klinger finally ended it with an ace.

The Pirates blitzed Charleston Southern at the beginning of frame four, taking an 8-3 lead and forcing a Buccaneer timeout. ECU allowed CSU to come as close as two just once the rest of the way, putting together a devastating 5-0 run to take a 23-15 advantage and send the match to a deciding set.

A Lutzow kill kept the Pirates even with the Bucs at four, but CSU scored four-straight to assume an 8-4 lead when Amy Nokes put down a kill. A Davis attack error provided ECU with hope and an 11-10 lead, but the Buccaneers used five kills to capture five of the last six rallies and the contest.

In the morning matchup with the Wolfpack, Roper paced the offense with seven kills while in the back row, Beasley and Nicole Jones picked up six digs each. NC State hit a crisp .337 in the contest while holding the Pirates to just .066. The Wolfpack also held the upper hand in kills (46-19), assists (44-18) and digs (38-27). However, the teams battled to a dead heat in terms of blocking with six apiece.

NC State scored the first 11 points of the contest before Varnum executed a slide kill for ECU's first point. The Pirates clawed to within 10 at 16-6, but the Pack took the last nine of 10 rallies to post a 25-7 frame victory.

East Carolina came out the aggressor in set two, establishing a 5-1 advantage when Nicole Glass committed an attacking error. However, NC State responded with an 8-4 run to tie the score at nine. The Pack pushed in front by five at 17-12 with a Brie Merriwether kill and seemed to have control of the interval when a miscue by Roper afforded NC State a 21-16 lead.

The Pirates answered by scoring eight of the next 10 to reach set point for the first time in the match. Roper kept ECU alive with a kill to make the score 25-25 after a pair of scores by the Wolfpack, but Glass and Margaret Salata captured the frame for NCSU with two-straight kills.

The Pack fashioned a three-point lead to begin the third interval and looked to be rolling when a Dariyan Hopper kill made the score 13-7 in its favor. However, East Carolina battled back and would eventually tie the score at 18 on a Derby kill.

A Salata attack error on the next play put the Pirates in front briefly, but ECU would score just once more as NC State completed the sweep.

East Carolina closes out nonconference play and begins its Conference USA slate next weekend in Huntington, W.Va., at the Thunder Invitational. The Pirates will take on Marshall at the Cam Henderson Center Friday, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m. before returning the next day to battle Central Michigan and George Mason.

Hilton Garden Inn Mayfaire All-Tournament Team
Haley Collins - UNCW
Kelly Derby - East Carolina
Brie Merriwether - NC State
Margaret Salata - NC State
Sydney Tracy - Charleston Southern
Jackie Varnum - East Carolina
MVP - Nicole Glass, NC State