Volleyball splits Big South weekend

The Lady Flames Volleyball team split their conference weekend, dropping one to Winthrop and winning against Charleston Southern.

The Lady Flames played extremely competitive games against Winthrop. They were in every game and had their chances to put Winthrop away, but fell short.

“We have five freshman compared to their five seniors,” coach Shane Pinder said. “We had our chances out there but we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that we had.”

After losing the first game, the Lady Flames responded back with a great win in the second game.

“When we play great offensively and defensively, our girls are very tough to beat,” Pinder said.

In the third and fourth games is where the Lady Flames could not close the games out with the win.

“We hit great and our outside attackers did a great job as well as our overall physical play was good,” Pinder said. “Our experience tonight with the young group was exposed during different key plays.”

The Lady Flames have not played a home game at the Vines Center since Sept. 14. Even though it is their home court, Pinder does not feel the home court advantage.

“I feel like our girls fight harder on the road,” Pinder said. “It is really tough losing at home, but I feel like we are a more aggressive team when we are on the road.”

Karyl Bacon had a great game for the Lady Flames and is a key vocal leader for the team. Her leadership is evident in every point of every game.

“Losing our first conference game will only fuel us to become better as a team,” Karyl Bacon said. “I know that our team fights no matter what happens when we are out on the court.”

The Lady Flames continued conference play Saturday with a 3-0 sweep against Charleston Southern.  The win brings the Lady Flames to 13-7 overall and 4-1 in the Big South.

They posted a season-high attack percentage of .406 and redshirt freshman Lauren Bosche was the stand-out player for the match.  She recorded her career first ace with 10 assists and two kills.

Karyl Bacon led the Lady Flames with 11 kills and Jade Craycraft led in assists with 23.  The Lady Flames held Charleston Souther to only a .109 attack percentage for the match.

“I feel great where we are in our conference right now”, coach Pinder said. “Our girls will only get better and I want to see what we can do as we finish the second half of the season.

The Lady Flames will continue conference play action Oct. 5th against Radford in the Vines Center.

HORNEFFER is a sports reporter.