NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — The fifth-ranked Catawba Valley Community College volleyball team closed out its appearance in the Monroe College Invitational on Saturday afternoon with two victories to finish the event with a 3-1 record.
"I'm so proud of how the team played together this weekend," said CVCC head volleyball coach Shannon Hudson. "We had a bit of a rocky start and had lots of unforced errors in our first match, but that was to be expected since we haven't played in a couple weeks."
The two wins on Sunday come after the Red Hawks split Saturday's tournament action, defeating fellow Division II opponent St. Johns River State in a five-set thriller before falling 3-0 to 15th-ranked Division I foe College of Central Florida.
"It was a hard fought five-set win against St Johns River, and we played cleaner against Central Florida, but their offense dominated the game," Hudson said. "All of our players had a chance to compete against Nassau, and they played great. It was nice to finish the tournament on a big win against host Monroe."
No. 5 Catawba Valley 3, Nassau 0
Behind a season-high 19 aces, the Red Hawks swept the Lions in three-straight sets on Saturday afternoon.
Set scores were 25-7, 25-9 and 25-12.
Macy Pope led CVCC with six aces, and Olivia Ramsey recorded three aces. Caitlin Dailey, Meredith Patterson, Hanne Cooke, Abigail Gordon and Emma Clark each tallied two aces.
On the offensive attack, Amber Barker made a team-high seven kills for Catawba Valley.
No. 5 Catawba Valley 3, Monroe 1
Despite falling behind a set early, the Red Hawks powered their way back to claim a four-set victory against the host Mustangs in their tournament finale.
Set scores were 17-25, 25-18, 26-24 and 25-16.
Aasia McNeill led the attack for Catawba Valley with 10 kills, while Meredith Patterson and Emma Clark added nine kills apiece.
Setters Amber Barker (18 assists) and Macy Pope (13 assists) helped aid that attack, while McNeil and libero Bre Myers paced the defensive effort with 19 digs each.
Now 7-2 overall on the season, the Red Hawks return to the court on Friday when they host their annual sixth annual Region X-travaganza at the Tarlton Complex.
Catawba Valley faces conference opponents Lenoir (12:30 p.m.), Louisburg (4 p.m.) and Cape Fear (5:30 p.m.) on Friday before playing two more conference opponents — Pitt (9 a.m.) and Fayetteville Tech (10:30 a.m.) — on Saturday morning.