Volleyball Defeats Reinhardt in Five-Set Thriller

Gainesville, Georgia- The Brenau volleyball team defeated Reinhardt (Ga.) University in a thrilling five-set match (22-25, 26-24, 28-26, 26-28, 15-9 ) in an Appalachian Athletic Conference competition on Wednesday.

After falling in the first set, the Golden Tigers rallied to even the score with a 26-24 win in the second frame.

In the third set, the visiting Eagles jumped out to a commanding 16-9 lead. Brenau continued to chip away at the deficit as the squad went on a 13-7 run to get within one point of tying the match. After a Mary Ellen Enright kill evened the match at 23-23, the two teams battled to a stalemate over the next six points until another kill by Enright and an attack error by Reinhardt's Allison Selway allowed the Golden Tigers to escape with a 28-26 win and take a 2-1 advantage.

In the fourth set, Brenau led the entire way until Reinhardt took a late 25-24 lead. Senior Gabrielle Hogle evened the match with a kill, while fellow senior Annabeth Vandiver added another kill to help the home team regain the lead at 26-25. However, the visitors answered with three consecutive points to even the match at 2-2.

With the match even, Brenau slowly pulled away in the final stanza as consecutive kills by Vandiver and junior Chloe Bennett helped establish a commanding 13-7 lead. After a second kill by Bennett increased the lead to 14-7, Reinhardt rallied with two consecutive points to cut the lead to 14-9. However, Enright answered with a match-clinching kill to secure the win.

Two Golden Tigers posted career-highs in the match as Enright had 27 kills, while Hogle notched a career best 53 assists. Enright also chipped in 14 digs and Hogle added 12 digs.

Senior libero Julieanne Saliba had 29 digs to lead the defense.

Nationally, Enright is currently tied for third in the NAIA in kills per set (4.62) and sixth in total kills (431), while Saliba is ranked 17th in the nation in digs per set (5.48).

Brenau (11-14 overall, 9-8 AAC) hits the road for a weekend of volleyball as the squad takes on Union (Ky.) College (13-14 overall, 8-9 AAC) on Friday at 6:30 pm, then plays a doubleheader on Saturday against conference rival Johnson (Tenn.) University (11-13 overall, 7-11 AAC) and non-conference opponent UC-Clermont.