GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Sophomore Danae Stauffer recorded 11 kills, six digs and two blocks to lead the Tusculum College volleyball team to a three-set sweep over Anderson University Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
With the victory, the Pioneers (18-8, 13-6 SAC) take over sole possession of second place in the South Atlantic Conference, one win ahead the three-team logjam of Anderson (13-12, 12-7 SAC), Mars Hill (14-9, 12-7 SAC) and Lincoln Memorial (16-11, 12-7 SAC). Tusculum won Saturday's match by scores of 25-22, 25-21, 25-22. TC will host its 2013 home finale on Tuesday night when they host Mars Hill for a 7 p.m. match.
Sophomore setter Hannah Berling tallied 20 assists and six digs, while senior Ashley Sarmiento added 13 assists and seven digs. Rookie Rachel Garnett finished with seven kills, while junior Megan Hasse posted four kills, 12 digs and a match-high four service aces to add to her league-leading tally of 49 aces, which are the seventh most in a TC single-season.
Senior Caitlyn Dean led all players with 16 digs to go along with her four assists. Dean increases her season total to 594 digs which are currently the fourth most in a TC single-season. She has now accounted four of the top season dig performances in program history.
Dean continues to close in on the NCAA Division II all-time digs record. Saturday's total gives her 3,055 career digs, which are now 52 shy of the DII record (3,107 by Holly Morgan, Tiffin University).
AU's Hailey Pittman led the visitors with 10 kills and two blocks, while Shannon Gillespie and Priscilla Irizarry finished with nine and eight kills, respectively. Setter Meghan Cautero dished out 23 assists, while Alix Hooker made a dozen digs in the loss.
Tusculum battled through 13 ties and four lead changes to win the opening set 13-5. Stauffer and Garnett posted three kills each, while Dean and Hasse added six and five digs, respectively. The Pioneers hit .256 in the frame, while limiting the Trojans to a .068 hitting percentage. Trailing 22-21, TC rattled off four straight points, including a Stauffer service ace on set-point to complete the rally.
The Pioneers used an 11-1 run in the second set and fended off a late Anderson rally en route to a 25-21 win. Hasse recorded four consecutive aces to push Tusculum out to a 19-10 advantage during the TC run.
TC rallied from a 10-6 deficit as Stauffer added six kills and a pair of blocks as the Pioneers closed out the match with a 25-22 decision in the third set. Tusculum was sparked by a 9-2 run that included five straight points to take a 15-12 lead. TC would increase the lead to 22-15 following a Stauffer kill and an AU ball handling error. The Trojans made one final charge thanks to a 5-1 run which was capped off by blocks from Jessica Harris and Irizarry to pull within 22-20. An Irizarry kill got Anderson to 23-22, but an AU attack error and a Berling kill on match-point clinched the win for the Pioneers to complete the season sweep over the Trojans.
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