Volleyball Opens Season in Texas

Fort Worth, TX - The Brenau University volleyball team opened their 2010 season with three matches in the Wesleyan Hughes Classic. The Tigers are coming off a record-breaking season in which they won 24 matches. Sophomore Melissa Thornton had an outstanding day with 25 kills and 37 digs.

In the opening match of the day, Loyola of New Orleans won in three straight, 25-13, 25-19 and 25-17. Junior Alexis Arthur had 10 digs and seven kills and Thornton backed her up with nine digs and five kills. Kerry Abernathy had 12 assists and Danelle Russell chipped in with 13 digs.

Mid-America Christian won a tightly contested match 25-18, 25-21, 21-25 and 25-21 in Brenau's second match of the day. Arthur had eights kills, seven digs and four blocks; Thornton came up with 11 kills and 14 digs; Senior Courtney Frady had seven kills and four blocks; Kelsey Aley had five kills, three digs and eight blocks and Meredith Hardin came up with eight blocks. Abernathy had 18 assists and Mekenna Cipres had 10 assists and seven digs.

In the nightcap, host Texas Wesleyan swept the Tigers 25-21, 25-23 and 25-21 in another close match. Arthur and Thornton again led the offense with 10 and nine kills respectively. They also came up with 10 and 11 digs. Libero Russell had 18 digs and Aley had nine blocks. Setters Abernathy and Cipres had 17 and 10 assists.

"Within the past day we have grown dramatically as a team. At the beginning of the day we were making too many mental mistakes, while waiting for someone else to take the ball or kill. However, at the end of the day I was delighted to see how scrappy our defense was and how the hitters were placing their hits with power. We just need to be consistent with our efforts," said Head Coach Meredith Franklin.

The Tigers will continue play today with matches against Texas-Brownsville and Southwestern Assemblies.