Lady Pioneers take season opener

A high energy crowd packed Bridges Arena to see the 2011 SMC Lady Pioneer Volleyball team take down Johnson and Wales University- 25-15, 17-25, 25-20, 26-24.

Sophomore Alley Greer led the Pioneers in the first set win with three aces and Chelsea Smith added two aces with her energetic play. The Pioneers also added seven kills in the first along with five blocks. "We came out ready to play and with a lot of energy tonight." says third year head coach Susie Williams. "I was really pleased with how we played in the first set; our execution was close to flawless early on." As the match moved on and the game sped up, we went back to some of our old habits and Johnson and Wales took advantage of us in the second set."

Freshman Whitney Strother rallied the Lady Pioneers early in the third with a couple nice passes and two kills while Sophomore Chapin Talbot found her timing and added four kills and a couple blocks in the third and fourth sets. Freshman Da'sha Brown showed her skills early and often in the match adding nine kills in her first collegiate action. "Our sophomores showed a lot of poise while our freshmen got over the nerves of their first collegiate match". "We struggled somewhat on our second contact and that made our hitters really have to make an adjustment for most of the match". When we had good passing we scored!"

With the Pioneers hanging on to a two point lead in the fourth, Coach Williams called a timeout to refocus her squad. "We had our goals for the match and I just reminded them of what those were and they performed flawlessly down the stretch."

Sophomore Alley Greer added "We have a lot of room for improvement, we all have the drive to win but we just need to bring it to the court everyday".

SMC (1-0) will now turn its focus to the Pioneer Classic to be held this weekend at Spartanburg Day School.

Spartanburg Day School

• 1701 Skylyn Dr · Spartanburg, SC 29307