The Red Raiders traveled to Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia this past weekend to compete in the Davis & Elkins Volleyball Classic. The Raiders completely dominated the competition, going 4-0 in tournament play while only losing one set the entire weekend.
The Raiders faced two opponents on Friday. The first was the Concord University Mountain Lions. The Raiders beat Concord in four sets by scores of 24-26, 25-13, 25-18 and 25-13. They then defeated the University of Virginia-Wise Cavaliers in three sets with scores of 25-20, 25-21 and 25-21.
The team received a big contribution from freshman Morgan DeFloria, who had double digit kills in both games on Friday. DeFloria had a total of 25 kills for the day, including 14 against Concord and 11 against Virginia-Wise.
Junior Maura Nolan had two very good games as well; Nolan had 37 assists against Concord and 34 against Virginia-Wise. Nolan also had six kills, five blocks assists, two aces and 14 digs on the day as well.
Sophomore Courtney Malott and senior Laura Plank also played well. Both had double digit digs in both matches on Friday. Plank had a team high of 29 total digs for the day while Malott had 12 digs in each match on Friday.
The Raiders were able to keep their momentum going into the following day of the tournament when the team beat the Bluefield State Blues and the Alderson Broaddus University Battlers both in three sets on Saturday.
The Raiders first played Bluefield State, beating them by scores of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-19. The team then beat Alderson Broaddus with scores of 25-15, 25-18 and 25-20.
Senior Taylor Gottshall had a great day with the Raiders; she had 16 kills to go along with eight blocks that day. Gottshall played very well against Bluefield State in particular, with seven of her eight blocks coming against the Battlers, as well as nine of her kills.
Junior Maura Nolan also had a second great day of the tournament. Nolan had 35 assists and 10 digs against Bluefield State, as well as 31 assists against Alderson Broaddus in the following game.
Senior Laura Plank also continued her great play with a team high 25 digs on the day to go along with three aces against Bluefield.
After this weekend’s tournament, the Raiders improved to 6-1 on the season. The team will look to continue its dominant play next weekend at the Mountain East Conference crossover tournament in West Virginia. The team’s first game will be against the West Liberty Hilltoppers on Sept. 18th at 2 p.m.
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