Volleyball Falls in Five Sets to CIU

Gainesville, Georgia- The Brenau volleyball team opened strong against Columbia International (SC) University but faded late in a five-set loss in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play on Tuesday.

The Golden Tigers stormed out to a 25-21 opening set victory and then followed up by slipping past the Rams 30-28 in the second set.

However the Rams (9-5 overall, 2-0 AAC) rallied to capture the last three sets (10-25, 21-25 and 9-15) to outlast the home team and escape with the win.

Junior Mary Ellen Enright again led the Golden Tigers with 15 kills and senior Rachel Hodges added 12 kills.

Setters Gabrielle Hogle and Sydney Norton combined for 40 assists, while senior TyLeeah Maddox chipped in six blocks.

Defensively, junior Julieanne Saliba posted a match-high 25 digs, while Enright also posted 13 digs.

Statistically, several Golden Tigers sit at the top of the AAC leaderboards as Saliba is ranked second in both digs per set (5.45) and total digs (229), while Enright is currently third in the conference in both kills per set (3.29) and total kills (138). Hodges is fourth in hitting percentage (.252), while Hogle sits in fourth place in assists per set (6.67).

Brenau (4-7 overall, 1-2 AAC) next travels to Tennessee for a two-day road trip. The squad will take on Tennessee Wesleyan (2-8 overall, 0-1 AAC) on Friday and Bryan College (7-3 overall, 3-0 AAC) on Saturday.