Courtesy of Newberry College Athletics
NEWBERRY — In their second straight five set battle, the Newberry College women’s volleyball team (12-12, 6-8 SAC) came out victorious, yet again taking on Erskine College.
The back-and-forth battle began immediately in the first set, going back and forth until tied at 16, Erskine made a 5-0 to have momentum late in the set. The Wolves made their best attempt to come back, but was too much as Erskine took the first set 25-22.
The Wolves quickly turned around and got started their own, making two small runs of their own jumping to an 8-5 lead early in the second set. Erskine was able to make small run to get right back into it, the Wolves, led by junior Taylor Hall (McDonough, Ga.), kept responding with runs of their own to run away with the second set, 25-16, to tied it at one set a piece.
Back and forth the sides went in the third set, as the Wolves had a short lead early. With the Wolves leading 18-15, Erskine was able to respond quickly as they went on a 10-3 run to come back and take a 25-21 set three victory to jump right back into the lead.
Senior Katie Ullsperger (Lexington) and sophomore Baylor Herlehy (Auburn, Calif.) helped the Wolves jump out quickly with a 4-0 start to the fourth set. Erskine jumped back quickly, but a short run in the middle of the set led by two kills from senior Olivia Diggs (Titusville, Fla.) showed to be enough as they held on 25-21 to tie it back up again and moved to the fifth set for the second straight match.
Four straight attacking errors early from Erskine, that included blocks from both freshman Samantha Shaffer (Belle Isle, Fla.) and freshman Madison Watson (Chesapeake, Vir.) got the Wolves hot early, having a 6-2 lead. Erskine kept producing errors that the Wolves took advantage, which helped the Wolves cruise to a 15-12 fifth set victory.
Shaffer led the way with 15 kills and 4 blocks, followed by Herlehy with 14 kills. Senior Avery Webb (Florence) had a season high 44 assists to lead the Wolves with two aces as well.