FAIRMONT, W.Va. — The Fairmont State University volleyball team (21-4, 9-0 MEC) defeated Glenville State University (10-11, 3-6 MEC) 3-0 on Friday at Joe Retton Arena, winning by set scores of 25-23, 25-13 and 25-22. The Falcons hit .286 while holding the Pioneers to .143, with the visitors committing 22 attack errors. The Falcons also finished with advantages in digs, total blocks and service aces.
After falling behind 22-21, the Falcons won four of the final five points, with
Alexa Martin tying the set at 22-22 and
Elena Thompson finishing the 25-23 win with a kill. Early in the set, the Falcons opened the set with three straight points behind
Belle DeVall's serve, including a Thompson kill and a block by Thompson and
Kailyn Connelly.
After the Pioneers pushed back,
Josie Nobbe's ace tied the set at 8-8, and the Falcons later built a 13-10 lead with a Connelly kill and two Pioneers attack errors during
Ashton Henrich's service turn. The Falcons were ahead 21-19 after a
Natalie Zemba kill and Henrich ace, but the Pioneers moved in front 22-21 before the Falcons closed out the first set.
In the second set, the Falcons broke it open late, winning seven of eight rallies from 14-11 to move ahead 21-12 on the way to a 25-13 finish. At the start of the set, the teams traded points to 6-6, the Falcons got back-to-back kills from Connelly to move in front 8-6. Zemba added a kill and teamed with
Alexa Martin on a block to push the lead to 14-10.
From there, a
Josie Nobbe kill, a Zemba kill and another Martin-Zemba block highlighted four straight Falcons points, and
Ashton Henrich added a service ace during the run to 21-12. Connelly supplied another late kill, then combined with Thompson on a block before
Belle DeVall's service ace closed the set at 25-13.
The third set ended with back-to-back Falcons kills after the Pioneers cut the margin to 23-22, with Nobbe putting the home side at set point and Thompson finishing a 25-22 set win. Earlier,
Zoe Ringer's serve helped the Falcons turn a 6-4 edge into a 10-4 lead behind kills from Thompson, Zemba and
Alexa Martin.
The Pioneers worked back through the middle of the set, erasing a 14-11 Falcons lead and moving ahead 16-15 before the Falcons answered with a service error point and a Zemba-
McKenzi Martin block. After the teams reached 18-18, Nobbe delivered three straight Falcons kills to move the score to 21-18, and she added two more late swings to help the Falcons withstand the Pioneers' final push.
Nobbe led the Falcons with 11 kills and 12.0 points, adding one service ace. Zemba finished with nine kills on a .727 hitting percentage, four digs and three block assists.
Zoe Ringer recorded a team-high 17 assists, six digs and one service ace.
Janai Turner collected a team-best 10 digs and added one assist.
Fairmont State welcomes West Virginia Wesleyan College on Saturday, October 17 for Senior Day. The match is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.
