Golden Tigers Volleyball Has Successful Week
The Brenau Golden Tigers volleyball team had a busy week in non-conference play finishing with two wins and a loss.
The Golden Tigers first defended their home court advantage on Tuesday with a win over Talladega College in three sets, 25-22, 25-16, and 25-17.
Offensively, Rachel Adam (Athens, GA) and Marcella Toups (Morris, IL) led the offense with 9 kills each, while Ellen Lemos (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), 6 kills, Pam Konken (Stockbridge, GA), 5 kills, and Allie Smith (Pace, FL), 3 kills, rounded out the scoring. Setter Courtney Deason (Pensacola, FL) distributed the ball well and accumulated 27 assists.
Defensively, Lindsay Kelly (Cumming, GA) anchored the back row with 25 digs, followed by Konken (16), Lemos (10), and Toups (7). Once again, Adam dominated the net with 5 total blocks in shutting down the Tornadoes offense.
"We needed a win after a tough stretch of matches," said head coach Jeff White. "We are a very young team with four freshman starters that are learning how to play together. When this group figures out how to play together, we will be tough to beat."
Next, the Golden Tigers traveled to Montreat College to take on host Montreat and Bryan College in an NAIA play day. In the first match of the day Brenau was defeated by Bryan College, 13-25, 15-25, 18-25, but rebounded to beat Montreat College, 26-24, 25-21, 25-21.
Against Bryan College, the Golden Tiger offense struggled with a negative attack percentage (-0.010). Lindsay Kelly had 9 kills and Rachel Adam had 1.5 blocks, but the Lions were too strong, hitting the ball extremely well and keeping the pressure on the Brenau defense.
In the match against Montreat College, the Golden Tigers found their offensive rhythm. Ellen Lemos, who had 18 kills in the match, dominated the net and the Cavaliers had no answer for the Brazilian right side hitter. Marcella Toups and Rachel Adam added 7 kills and Pam Konken had 6 kills to complement Lemos' dominance. Defensively, three players had double digit digs as Lindsay Kelly (14), Ellen Lemos (12), and Pam Konken (10) contributed as well. Lemos also dominated the net with 3 blocks and received help from Devony Hemingway (Salemburg, NC) who added 2.5 blocks.
"I am extremely proud of the way our team bounced back this week, especially by beating Montreat College after the tough loss against Bryan College," added White. "We are taking small steps towards being a more consistent team on the court, which will lead to more success and wins. Our remaining schedule involves six home matches, four against conference opponents, so we are hoping to maintain our home court advantage and emerge with some victories."
Brenau finished the week with an 8-14 overall record. The next match for the Golden Tigers is Dig Pink and Greek Night on Tuesday against conference opponent Emmanuel College. Come support the team and Breast Cancer research by purchasing a Dig Pink t-shirt at the match for $10.