Spalding Cruises Day 1 of National Championships

The National Championships started yesterday and the Spalding University Golden Eagles were looking to start defending their title as they won their first National Championship in school history last year. This year the Golden Eagles come into the tournament as the number 1 seed as they compiled 25-6 regular season record. Coach Yates before Day 1: “We want to get off to a good start. There is nothing like losing momentum so if we can go out there and play well early, we will feel real good going into day 2.”

In the first game of pool play the Spalding Golden Eagles took on Robert Morris College out of Illinois. The first set was back and forth early on with neither team taking control. When the games knotted at 14-14, Coach Yates called a timeout to try and regain composure. “I felt like the game was slipping a little, we were making silly mistakes so it was time to make an adjustment.” And sure enough behind the serves of Jessica Luker and the net presence of Paige Dellis who recorded 8 kills the Golden Eagles took a commanding lead and eventually went home with set one by a score of 25-17. Other leaders in that game were Allison Woosley who recorded 17 assists and Alex Marquardt who recorded 5 kills.

 The second set was all Spalding from the start as Carrie Woods tallied 3 aces and Morgan Kennedy recorded 6 kills on their way to a 25-17 match victory. This is what Coach Yates had to say about the victory, “We definitely did not play our best game. I am not sure if it is the nerves, but you were making some mistakes that were uncharacteristic of the team. However, it was good to get the first one!”

In game two the Golden Eagles saw themselves matched up against Penn St. Mont Alto out of Pennsylvania. This time the Golden Eagle left no doubt and cruised to a 2-0 victory by scores of 25-13 and 25-18. The solid defense and strong attack at the net was too much for Robert Morris. Leading the team was senior Morgan Kennedy who tallied 5 kills along with Alex Marquardt who did the same. Allison Woosley once again was the assist leader dishing out 19 in the two set match. With the win Spalding moved to 2-0 for day one pool play and put themselves in the driver seat as they head into the second round of pool play starting today at 10:00am.

Other results from the tournament:

Rochester defeated Florida College 25-12, 15-25, 25-17

South Virginia University defeated Penn St. Fayette 25-15 and 25-13

Florida College defeated Talladega College 25-9 and 25-7

UC Clermont defeated Ohio St. Marion 25-14 and 25-20

UC Clermont defeated Penn St. Mont Alto 25-10 and 25-21

Talladega College defeated Penn St. Fayette 25-16 and 25-20

Robert Morris defeated Ohio St. Marion 25-19 and 25-17

Southern Virginia defeated Rochester College 25-23, 19-25, and 27-25