MONTREAT, N.C. — Playing its final game of the regular season, the Catawba Valley Community College volleyball team defeated the Montreat College JV team 3-0 on Monday night in non-conference action.
"They played well," said CVCC head volleyball coach Shannon Hudson of her team's performance. "We were able to get everybody in. We played a JV squad, so we knew it was going to be a good opportunity for us to work on some of the things we needed to going into this weekend — cleaning up our game and earning our points on our side. I was proud of the effort. They are figuring things out. We know what we need to do in order to be successful. We just have to execute our plan."
Mallory Bailey led the way for CVCC (26-8) in its win, driving down a team-high seven kills.
Hudson has been impressed with the play of the sophomore from Catawba, N.C.
"(Bailey) came back from injury, and it took her a couple of weeks to get back into the swing of things," Hudson said. "She just keeps getting a little bit stronger every week and connecting with our setter. It's shown the past few matches."
Leslie Leonard added six kills for the Red Hawks in their win, while Sabrina Pinard, Emilee Webber and Karsyn Mundy made five kills apiece.
CVCC now turns its attention to the Region X/District P tournament, which takes place this Friday and Saturday.
The Red Hawks face Guilford Tech in the first round of the tournament on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m.
CVCC has an advantage in having played at Brunswick Community College — the host site for the tournament — just this past week.
"It was nice to play there this past weekend, especially for the freshmen who hadn't played there before," Hudson said. "It was nice to kind of see what it was like and get a feel for the court. It was definitely an advantage."
The semifinals and finals of the tournament will take place Saturday at Brunswick Community College.
The winner of the Region X/District P tournament advances to the National Junior College Athletic Association Div. II National Tournament, which is being held Nov. 16-18 in Charleston, W.Va.
Hudson is confident her team can do well if it plays to its potential.
"We just have to play clean volleyball," she said. "We've done a great job all year of earning our points. We just have to clean it up a little bit and not give away so many with unforced errors and sloppy plays that sometime young teams can make. If they play clean, I think we'll be okay."
