Box Score
Photo by:  Dalton Stevens

PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Haley Esquivel led a balanced University of Pikeville attack with seven kills and eight digs in a 3-0 shutout of Bluefield (Va.) on Tuesday at the UPIKE Gym.

The win snapped an eight-match losing streak for the Bears as they hit .209 as a team, compared to an even .000 for the Rams after posting 22 kills and 22 errors.

Four different players have at least five kills for UPIKE (14-19, 3-13 MSC), led by Esquivel, Sydney Hall with six, and Rachel Murphy and Sydney Morris with five each. Morris also dished out a match-high 23 assists and had nine digs.

Dominique Melvin picked up a match-best 15 digs and Hall posted five blocks to lead the defense.

Jasmine Morrow, who had a 30-kill performance against the Bears earlier this month, led Bluefield (5-21, 0-16 MSC) with 14 kills and 13 digs.

After a kill by Morrow, Pikeville had a 9-6 lead in the first set before going on a 7-0 run with Morris on serve. Now up 16-6 after an Esquivel kill, the Rams scored just five more points in the set for a 25-11 UPIKE win.

The roles were reversed in the second set as Bluefield built a 15-6 lead, forcing Pikeville to take a timeout. Coming out of the break the Bears went on a 4-0 run and started to build momentum.

When Esquivel took over serve with a 19-15 deficit, she didn't stop serving for six straight points until it was 20-20. It was the first tie in the set since the score was 1-1. Now essentially playing to five, UPIKE scored five straight points, including a Melvin ace and kills from Murphy and Hall.

Pikeville shot out to a 20-9 lead in the third set to easily close out the match. Bluefield did outscore the Bears 8-5 from that point, getting as close as seven points at 24-17 before a kill from Katie Massie ended it at 25-17.

UPIKE returns to the court at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 5 against Georgetown (Ky.) at the UPIKE Gym.