Trojans finally play 'D,' ground Hawks in home opener

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 11, 2014 1:46 PM

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rcoggins@newargus.com

MOUNT OLIVE -- Step up your level of play.

Calm down.

Believe in yourself.

Finish on a good note.

University of Mount Olive outside hitter Britni Johnson and her teammates did those things in the decisive fifth set, and opened the home portion of their season with a come-from-behind 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-13 victory over Chowan University at Kornegay Arena on Wednesday evening.

Johnson cranked out a team- and match-high 18 kills for the Trojans, who snapped a three-match skid. Freshman setter Samantha Winfield dished out 55 assists, while freshman libero Casey Fiechter led the defense with 28 digs.

UMO had 71 kills as a team.

Three unforced errors and Jordan Miller's kill gave Chowan a 9-5 lead in the fifth set. The Trojans (2-3 overall) pecked away at the deficit and tied it at 11-11 on Johnson's 16th kill of the match.

Montgomery Register connected on a kill and the Braves (2-3) committed an attack error to push UMO in front 13-11. Three sideouts later, Johnson capped the comeback with a kill to the middle of Chowan's back row.

"I was feeling pretty good, trusting my setter and her sets," said Johnson, who also had 13 digs on defense. "We trusted in each other, believed in each other and knew we were playing to the best of our ability at that point.

"We needed to finish it out well."

Chowan closed out the opening set with a 6-2 run and scored the final three points of the second set. The Hawks took advantage of the Trojans' inconsistent defense and passing, which vastly improved as the match progressed.

UMO combined for 35 kills in the third and fourth set. The back row sent crisp passes to Winfield, who worked the ball to either Johnson, Alysha Burnett (13 kills) or Register (14 kills).

Nine different Trojans registered at least one kill on the night.

"Defense is our big focus in practice and for the first two sets, we didn't really play defense," first-year UMO head coach -- and alum -- Colby Mangum said. "That was the big thing we talked about after set two. Defense is our strong suit and we're allowing someone to dictate the way we play the game.

"When we started to make some good defensive plays, that's when the momentum of the game shifted."

Chowan owned a 9-5 edge in blocks, but managed just a .141 hitting percentage for the match.