Volleyball Defeats Columbia in AAC Opener

Gainesville, Ga. - The Brenau volleyball team opened the Appalachian Athletic Conference schedule with a five-set victory over Columbia (S.C.) College (25-21, 17-25, 25-17, 20-25, 15-7) on Thursday.

In the opening frame, sophomores Sydney Norton and Rachel Hodges combined to score the last four points of the set to help the Golden Tigers slip past the Koalas for a 25-21 victory.

After Columbia took the second set to even the match at 1-1, Brenau answered with a strong third set, including a five point run to extend the lead from 11-7 to 17-7. A service ace by Jordan Diaz started the run, then a TyLeeah Maddox kill increased the advantage to 13-7. After two Columbia attack errors made the score 16-7, Hodges added a kill to extend the lead to 17-7 which allowed the home team to cruise to a 25-17 set win.

In the final stanza, the Golden Tigers scored nine of the last ten points, including a match-clenching kill from Lanier Leonard to give the home team its first conference victory of the season.

Leonard led all players with 11 kills, while Sydney Norton added 10 kills and 19 assists. Nitaira Wilkes and Jordan Diaz both had career nights as Wilkes had a career-high 21 assists and Diaz earned a career-high 41 digs. Hodges added eight kills and three blocks, and Kayleigh Reece posted six kills and a career-high 19 digs.

Brianna King led the Koalas with nine kills.

Brenau (1-8 overall, 1-1 AAC) continues its conference slate when the squad travels to Allen (S.C.) University on Saturday for an 11 am matchup.