ANDERSON, S.C. – In front of a capacity Homecoming crowd at the Abney Athletic Center, the Anderson volleyball team wrapped up its regular-season home schedule by blanking Coker, 3-0 (25-11, 25-20, 25-14) in South Atlantic Conference play, Saturday afternoon at the Abney Athletic Center.
After reeling off nine consecutive victories and claiming wins in 11 of their last 12 outings, the Trojans improved to 20-4 overall and 13-3 in league action, while Coker (5-18, 2-15 SAC) suffered its four consecutive loss and its seventh setback in eight outings.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Middle hitter Noelle Knutsen led all players with 14 kills on a .632 hitting accuracy, with the senior from Parker, Colo., adding two block assists and notching her third career service ace in the third set. Fellow senior Liliana Kinder added 10 kills behind a .500 attacking percentage. She notched three block assists and a solo block on the afternoon. Junior right-side hitter Rylie Sargent tallied five kills.
Senior setter Madison Roy dished out 36 assists and came up with seven digs, while seniors Lindsay McCurley and Alexandra Petrilli posted seven digs and five digs, respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
AU struck early and doubled up the Cobras, 10-5, on a kill from Jaelyn Grimm, while steadily expanded its lead to double figures (18-8) and went on to claim the comfortable 14-point win.
Second Set
Trailing by their largest margin of the afternoon (14-11) midway through the second frame and again at 18-17, the Trojans closed out the set on an 8-2 surge that was fueled by Knutsen and Kinder, along with junior Meg Sansbury's serves.
Third Set
The Trojans scored the first seven points of the set and steadily built a double-digit, 18-8, lead before closing out the win by an 11-point margin.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE DAY
The Trojans posted a school-record .507 hitting percentage, Saturday afternoon - eclipsing their previous school-record .494 hitting percentage against UVA Wise in early October. AU hit .440 against Newberry earlier this season and has now twice bested the previous school record .452 hitting accuracy set against Livingstone on Nov. 1, 2017.
NOTABLES
• Six seniors made their final regular-season appearance at the Abney Center - Megan Harding, Liliana Kinder, Noelle Knutsen, Lindsay McCurley, Alexandra Petrilli and Madison Roy have helped lead the Trojans to 102 wins, five conference tournament appearances and four NCAA Tournament Appearances during their careers.
• The Trojans have clinched at least the Piedmont Division's No. 3 seed in November's South Atlantic Conference Championship – marking their 11th straight SAC Tournament appearance.
• The top two seeds in each division will host quarterfinal rounds on Monday, Nov. 7.
• With two matches left on its regular-season schedule, AU trails Piedmont Division-leading Wingate by two games and leads third-place Lenoir-Rhyne by two games.
• In conference winning percentage, the Trojans (.813) trail only Wingate (.938) and Carson-Newman (.875).
• Knutsen's .632 hitting percentage would match the seventh-highest attacking accuracy in school history.
• Excluding the Covid-shortened Spring, 2021 season, the Trojans have notched five straight 20-win seasons and have posted at least 20 wins in 13 of the last 25 seasons.
• The Trojans own a 38-7 record versus the Cobras over the past 22 seasons and have won 27 of the last 30 meetings, including 25 straight.
UP NEXT
Anderson will open its final two-game road swing of the season by visiting Catawba, Tuesday night at 6 p.m., then wrap up the regular season, Wednesday night at Lenoir-Rhyne.
