Box Score Frisch, Samson Lead MC; Hometown Scots Notch 9 Aces
MARYVILLE – Maryville College fought off a 5-0 Covenant College run in the fifth set, as the hometown Scots added one of their own and four service aces to take the Battle of the Scots, 3-2, Wednesday night.
The squads played to a deadlock through four sets, forcing a decisive fifth. MC took an early advantage, before the Georgian Scots rolled off five straight for a 6-4 lead.
MC rallied with a 5-point run of their own, highlighted by an Isabella Samson kill and two Meredith Bonee aces.
"It was huge," Head Coach Kandis Schram said. "Going in, I asked them to be bold and brave. I asked them to not take anything for granted. No one was going to give them anything. I thought they played with a lot of heart."
That Orange and Garnet rally lifted Maryville to a 21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 14-25, 15-8 victory in the USA South opener.
Freshman Landry Frisch came out of the match with a double-double 14 kills and 13 digs. She also had a pair of blocks and an ace to her credit.
"Landry came up big, and so did Isabella," Schram said. "Landry as a freshman, I knew they would come after her in serve receive. I thought she did really, really well in that. She came up with some big swings, so it was awesome."
Samson had 16 kills for the Scots with a .306 hitting percentage, while Bonee added a double-double 44 assists and 13 digs. She had four aces and a trio of kills.
Covenant rallied from behind in the first set, as Maryville built a 15-12 lead. The Georgian Scots rallied on a .324 hitting attack to take the opener, 25-21.
Samson had five kills, while Natalie Watts added eight digs in the first set.
The second set, Maryville found its groove. The Scots found five kills from Bailey Reese and Frisch in the set, while tacking on a trio of aces. MC took set two, 25-22.
In the third set, Maryville controlled the pace defensively. Covenant hit negative .057 for the set, while the Scots excelled with a .242 clip. Frisch again had five kills, as Bonee narrowly missed a double-double in the set with nine assists and seven digs.
The fourth stanza saw errors plague MC, as they combined for 10 attack errors and four reception errors. Covenant College took advantage, forcing a fifth set with a 25-14 score.
Finally, the Scots rallied late in the fifth to move to 1-0 in USA South play.
Maryville (5-7, 1-0 USA South) totaled nine service aces in the match in total.
"We'd been working on that so much," Schram said. "Part of our downfall has been missing. We get so much emotion that we just sky out, so that was huge."
Reese followed Frisch, Bonee and Samson with nine kills and a trio of blocks. Amii Ingalls added seven kills and two aces, as she matched Watts defensively with 21 digs. Emily Rogers added 11 digs and an ace for MC.
For Covenant (5-6, 0-1), it was Rachel Bartlett and Summer Johnson that finished with double-doubles. Bartlett had 19 assists and 15 digs, while Johnson added 13 assists and 17 digs. Anna Baldwin had 14 digs, while Grace Logterman and Emma Kalbfleisch had nine kills each.
Maryville will continue USA South Athletic Conference play this weekend, as the Scots travel to Decatur, Ga. on Saturday, Sept. 25. MC faces Agnes Scott College at 1:00 p.m. before taking on Wesleyan College (Ga.) at 3:00 p.m.
