LEBANON, Tenn. – Elisa Burzio,
Lara Danesi, and Luiza Goncalves each recorded double-doubles as the Blue Raider volleyball team capped off a perfect first half of conference play with a four-set win at Cumberland (Tenn.).
The homestanding Phoenix narrowly bested Lindsey Wilson in total kills, 54-52, but the visitors got the better of their opponent from the service line, dropping a season-high 16 aces.
Burzio contributed four service aces to go along with her team-best 16 kills and 12 digs, while Gonçalves also finished with four aces to aid her 40 assist-11 dig performance. Danesi closed with 13 kills and 18 digs, both second-most for the team.
Elsewhere for the Blue Raiders,
Ola Wyrzykowska paced with five service aces, and
Autumn McCutchen's career-high 21 digs led the defense.
A strong 5-0 start for Lindsey Wilson, including back-to-back aces from Gonçalves, sent the Blue Raiders in a positive direction to open the first set. Cumberland, however, swiftly countered and went on to post a 6-0 run of its own to go ahead 10-8. Trailing 16-13, a kill by Burzio kicked off another five-point Blue Raider swing, pushing them back to the lead. The Phoenix managed to knot the score at 19-19 but a definitive 5-0 stretch by the road team ultimately sealed the opening set.
Cumberland utilized a strong attack in the second frame, committing zero errors en route to a 25-23 set win.
In the third, the Blue Raiders raced out to a 5-2 lead behind kills from Wyrzykowska and
Elizabeth Moore. Then, later in the set, Lindsey Wilson pieced a five-point run to build a seven-point advantage. The Phoenix soared back on a 9-3 rally to cut the deficit to one but got no closer as the Blue Raiders tallied three of the set's last four points to retake the lead in the match.
Cumberland led by a pair early in the fourth before a 5-0 Lindsey Wilson run shifted the momentum on its side. The two rivals traded points from there to the end, and the Blue Raiders never surrendered their lead.
Lindsey Wilson steps away from its Mid-South schedule this weekend to travel north to Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Blue Raiders will open their two-day conference crossover at 6 p.m. CST on Saturday when they challenge 19
th-ranked Grace (Ind.).
