Box Score
PIKEVILLE, Ky. – With UVa.-Wise getting 26 kills from Karley Allen, it would take an exceptional team effort from the University of Pikeville and that's just what the Bears turned in, outlasting the Cavaliers 3-2 on Tuesday at the UPIKE Gym. The win is the first over UVa.-Wise in 10 tries, dating back to the 2009 season.
Allen was on another level, hitting 26 of 47 for a .383 percentage, but the combination of
Haley Esquivel (12 kills),
Chelsea Staples (11) and
Sydney Hall (10) kept the Bears in the match with a team .274 hitting mark. The Cavaliers finished with a team percentage of .235.
The first set started out in favor of UVa.-Wise (0-2) as it used two errors, an ace and a kill to take a 4-0 lead. The advantage grew to 6-1 on Allen's first kill of the match, but Pikeville (4-5) went on an 8-3 run to tie it up and kept its foot on the gas for the rest of the first two sets.
A back-and-forth first frame eventually say the Bears take two three-point leads late before winning 25-23 on a kill from Staples. Pikeville played the aggressor role in the second with a 5-1 lead, but gave it up for a 11-11 tie halfway through.
The Bears used a UVa.-Wise error to take a five-point lead at 23-18 and took the set for a 2-0 lead on an ace by
Sydney Morris to make it 25-18.
Pikeville looked to be on its way to a sweep with a 3-0 lead in the next set, but suddenly the tide turned in favor of the Cavaliers and they completely controlled the third and fourth frames with 25-19 and 25-16 scores.
In the decisive fifth set, it was literally either team's match to win as there were 10 ties all the way up to 13-13 before UPIKE could finally pull away. Hall and
Rachel Murphy made it a 14-13 lead with a block of Allen, followed by the Cavs giving away the set with a Santana Bishop error at 15-13.
The win makes Pikeville 2-0 at home after also beating West Virginia Tech to open the season. UVa.-Wise, in its first season outside of the Mid-South Conference after a move to NCAA Div. II, is still looking for its first win of the season as this was only its third match.
Lasting just a few minutes under two hours, the five-setter allowed for some high numbers with statistics. Morris finished with 42 assists for Pikeville, while Veronica Sanchez finished with a match-high 53 for the Cavs,
Dominique Melvin led the Bear defense with 11 digs, while Staples sent back seven blocks and Hall and
Audri Ray each added five each.
After a miserable hitting performance in the fourth set, going 4 of 19 with four errors for an even .000 percentage, the Bears were at their best in the final frame, going 9 of 16 for a .500 mark. The hitting was topped only by the show put on in the second set when Pikeville hit .545 (14 of 22).
