Volleyball team back in action tonight

Published in Sports on September 20, 2005 2:31 PM

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MOC Sports Information

Mount Olive hopes to extend its winning streak and erase some bad memories as the Trojans play host to Barton tonight in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference volleyball. Match time is 6:30 p.m. at Kornegay Arena on the campus of Mount Olive College.

Mount Olive (6-2 overall, 4-0 CVAC) is tied for first place in the conference standings after a 3-0 win Sunday over Limestone extended the Trojans' winning streak to five. Senior Heidi Busch recorded 18 kills and ranks third in the CVAC with 4.04 kills per game.

Busch enters tonight's match with 1,979 career kills, putting her within 21 kills of becoming only the 25th player in NCAA II history to reach the 2,000-kill mark.

Busch is one of three Trojans in the top 10 in the CVAC in kills. Sophomore Sam Mitchell, who tallied a season-high 18 kills in Saturday's come-from-behind five-game win over Converse, ranks seventh with a 3.11 average, while junior Anna Luft is ninth at 3.04 kills per game.

Luft ranks fourth in the CVAC with a .321 hitting percentage and is also fourth in service aces with a 0.57 per game average. Senior Colby Mangum's 362 hitting percentage ranks second in the CVAC. She also ranks sixth in the conference with 1.18 blocks per game.

Senior setter Sara Christie is second in the CVAC in assists (10.41 per game) and service aces (0.65), but the Trojans have been without Christie for their last three matches due to an injury. Christie's status remains day-to-day.

In her place, freshman Mallory Peavler has filled in by averaging 11.36 assists per game in the Trojans' last three wins, despite never having played the setter position in a competitive match prior to last Thursday. Peavler has also averaged 0.82 aces per game during the stretch.

Barton (3-13, 2-4) is coming off back-to-back losses over the weekend at home against Converse and Limestone. Junior Keauna Vinson leads the CVAC in kills and hitting percentage, and ranks second in the conference in blocks.

The last meeting between the two teams took place in the quarterfinal round of last year's CVAC Tournament as seventh-seeded Barton defeated No.2 seed Mount Olive 3-1. Busch missed the match for the Trojans due to an injury. The Trojans won both regular season meetings last year as Busch recorded 33 kills in the second matchup, which took place at Mount Olive.

Tonight's contest is Mount Olive's fourth in a six-match, 10-day homestand.