Kegerreis, Mulvaney, Sharpe Lead Baylor Victory

Lady Red Raiders Improve To 2-1 With Sweep Of Notre Dame

The Baylor volleyball team improved to 2-1 on the young season Tuesday afternoon with a hard-fought 3-0 sweep of Notre Dame.

The Lady Red Raiders had beaten Boyd Buchanan on Monday while losing to defending Class AAA defending champ Cleveland at Cleveland, but they played well again a day later before handing the Fighting Irish its first loss after Monday's win over Rhea County.

Baylor won the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-16, but the third and deciding set was a bit closer as Notre Dame refused to surrender and battled for all they were worth before falling, 29-27.

Baylor coach Sarah Lail brings almost as much spirit and enthusiasm to the court as her players and the veteran leader was all smiles when Tuesday's match ended.

"I just love it when we get to play matches at home agirls up and motivates them to play their best," Lail said shortly after a kill from Sydney Sharpe clinched the win for the home team.

"We have some new kids this year and we're just trying to figure everyone's role, but Sydney Sharpe really played well and created a lot of one-on-one opportunities for us.  Our hitters were able to finish the play.

"Notre Dame really stepped it up in that third set, but I'm just happy that we were able to answer.  We were playing to win from the opening point, but Addi Kegerreis is one of our newcomers and has fit in great so far.

"The chemistry with these girls is really good and we feel like we have all the pieces in place to make a great run this fall," Lail added with a smile.

Notre Dame coach Laurie McGinley is in her first season leading  Lady Irish after serving as an assistant to Dan Clotfelter for a number of years.  She knows that her team playing teams like Baylor will only help them get better as they prepare for the season-ending tournaments in October.

"Right now, we're just focused on growth and getting better every day, but it helps to play teams like Baylor.  We want to be pushed out of our comfort zone and teams like Baylor do just that for us. 

"There is always room for improvement, but we want to begin with the end in mind.  Playing teams like this help us recognize areas where we need to work, but we're just trying to play the best teams we can find as that only helps us on down the line," she nodded.

Four straight service points from Sarah Dobson allowed Notre Dame to take a 4-0 lead in the opening set before Sally Frost answered with seven straight service points of her own for Baylor.

A kill from Kaiulani Sherrow put Baylor ahead 8-4 and the Lady Irish never got any closer than two points as Emma Mulvaney's kill clinched the first set for the Lady Raiders.

Notre Dame grabbed the early lead in the second set, but four straight service points from Sharpe put Baylor ahead, 7-4.  Six straight serves from Nina Lail put Baylor ahead 20-9 before Mulvaney ended the second set with another kill.

The third set was by far the best of the match as there were five ties in the first six points before Notre Dame forged ahead, 10-6.  The Irish maintained the upper hand until a kill from Mulvaney knotted the score at 17-17.

It was a real battle the rest of the way.

The Irish were at set point twice at 24-23 and 25-24, but Mulvaney had kills both times to keep Baylor's hopes alive.

A kill from Kegerreis put Baylor up 27-26 before a kill from Scarlett Hughes tied it again.  Baylor then won when Notre Dame had a hitting error and Sharpe ended it with her kill.

Sharpe set the pace for the Baylor win with 32 assists and 16 digs in addition to five kills and two aces.  Kegerreis and Mulvaney led the hitters with 14 and 13 kills, respectively, while Mulvaney also had 10 digs.  Rory Oleksik added 13 digs for the winners.

Hughes was tops for Notre Dame with 10 kills while Brown followed with eight kills and 13 digs.  McCormick finished with 18 digs while Dobson added 11 assists.

NOTRE DAME STATS:

Aniyah Brown – 4 kills, 11 digs, 1 ace, 7 assists

Wrenn Scott – 1 kill, 1 dig

Sarah Dobson – 1 kill, 5 digs, 1 ace, 11 assists

Sam Brown – 8 kills, 13 digs

Graci Amuri – 1 kill

DaLana Brown – 2 digs

Scarlett Hughes – 10 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace

Karley Nutz – 4 digs, 1 assist

Callie McCormick – 18 digs, 1 ace

Addie Kitchings – 2 kills.

BAYLOR STATS:

Sydney Sharpe – 2 aces, 5 kills, 32 assists, 16 digs

Addi Kegerreis – 14 kills, 1 assist, 1 block, 3 digs

Emma Mulvaney – 13 kills, 2 assists, 10 digs

Rory Oleksik – 2 assists, 13 digs

Brenna Bagley – 3 kills, 10 digs

Bailey Shahan – 6 kills, 1 block, 2 digs

Sally Frost – 1 ace, 4 digs

Nina Lail – 3 aces, 1 assist, 2 digs

Kaiulani Sherrow – 4 kills.

Kegerreis, Mulvaney, Sharpe Lead Baylor Victory - Chattanoogan.com

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