University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Gold Team Defeats Black Team in Scrimmage
8/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 20, 2011
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss volleyball team had its annual Black and Gold scrimmage and the Golden Eagle defeated the Black team, 4-1.
Junior Halie Ecker led the Gold team with a match-high 18 kills followed by Amelia Hendrickson with 15 and Sarah Jane Bowden added 10 kills. Senior Lisa Knecht who played three games on the Gold Team collected 20 digs while Elizabeth Rinaduo had 16. Senior Kelsea Seymour registered 30 assists for the Gold and 17 assists for the Black team. Ecker also recorded four aces. Lauren Sears had seven blocks.
"I saw a lot of good things today," second-year coach Abbey Sutherland said. "The Gold Team was playing together, talking between plays, anticipating what was going to happen and had discipline on their side."
Freshman Emily Sears led the Black Team with 10 kills while sophomore Shelby Schacher and freshman Katie Steelman had nine kills each. Sears also chipped in 11 digs while Alex Pfefferle record 16 digs before switching over to the Gold Team. Knecht also picked up 13 digs for the Black Team. Kristen Fleming collected 17 assists for the Black Team and 17 assists for the Gold Team.
"I believe we always have to work on being a dynamic team, running a balanced offense and always keeping the middles involved so that we can get holes in the block," said Sutherland. "We also have to be a solid ball control, serve and pass team."
Southern Miss opens hosting its own tournament, Aug. 26-27, in Reed Green Coliseum. Action gets underway on Friday at 12 p.m. with Chattanooga taking on Northwestern State followed by Jackson State and Northwestern State at 3 p.m. Southern Miss and Chattanooga will close out the first day at 7 p.m.
Saturday's play begins at 12 p.m. with Southern Miss against Northwestern State followed by Chattanooga versus Jackson State and the Golden Eagles will conclude the tournament against Jackson State at 7 p.m.
"We are excited about next weekend," Sutherland said. "In our first week of preseason we gained a lot of experience and learned a lot as a team. I believe we will be ready for the first tournament. We still have some things we need to work on this week, but I have a plan on what we are going to do. We will be ready to play."
