August 30, 2008

Stats
Printer Friendly PDF

WINGATE, N.C.—Junior middle blocker Galina Podolsky (Raleigh, N.C.) ripped 11 kills and served up three aces to lead the St. Andrews Presbyterian College volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-10) non-conference victory over Saint Augustine’s College on Saturday afternoon in the 2008 Wingate University Invitational in Cuddy Arena.

All 12 Lady Knights (1-2) played in St. Andrews’ first victory of the season. Sophomore Kelly Williams (Laurel, Md.) was named an All-Tournament Team with a match-high 11 digs.

Senior No. 3 Liz Windham had five kills while senior No. 9 Dani Ghramm had four aces and four digs in Saturday's game against Saint Augustine's

“It was good to get our first win of the year after facing tough competition in the region in our first two matches,” said St. Andrews fourth year head coach Dan Kreiger.

St. Andrews jumped out to a 9-2 lead and coasted to the 13-point victory in the first set. The Knights had 10 kills with only three errors for a .250 hitting percentage in the opening frame. Podolsky led the Knights offense with four kills and two aces.

“We took care of things on our side of the net,” added Kreiger. “Our team paid more attention to our execution and we cut down on our hitting errors. We also served more aggressively to keep Saint Augustine’s out of their system.”

The Falcons (0-3) held an early 7-5 edge in the second set but St. Andrews catapulted into the lead for good with an ensuing 6-0 run. The Knights continued to pull away and a Podolsky kill completed the 10-point set win to give the Royal Blue and White a commanding 2-0 advantage in the match. Knights’ senior hitter Liz Windham (Wartrace, Tenn.) had a team-high three kills while sophomore hitter Kelly Williams (Laurel, Md.) had eight of her 11 digs in the second.

An ace by sophomore blocker Leah Davison (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) gave St. Andrews a quick 3-1 lead that they would never relinquish. The Knights scored 10 of the next 12 points to increase their lead to double-digits. Senior Dani Ghramm (Hayden, Idaho) served up back-to-back aces to extend SAPC’s advantage to 22-8 before coasting to the 15-point victory. Freshman Heather Bolwerk (Appleton, Wis.) finished the match with a kill.

St. Andrews will have 10 days to prepare for Conference Carolinas play when they visit Pfeiffer University on Wednesday, September 10th in Misenheimer, N.C. Saint Augustine’s visits CIAA foe Chowan University (Murfreesboro, N.C.) on Tuesday.

“It will be a good opportunity to dissect some film and take care of some of the areas we struggled in this weekend,” answered Kreiger after being asked about the gap of time before another match. “This also gives us a nice break after preseason to give our players bodies a rest.”

St. Andrews finished the contest hitting .282 with Podolsky (.500) and Windham (.444) leading the way with 11 and five kills, respectively. Williams added four kills to go with her digs.

The Knights served up 11 aces including four by Ghramm, three by Podolsky, and two by both Davison and Windham.

Junior setter Jaime Hayes (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) chipped in with game highs of 21 assists and 3.0 total blocks.

Sophomore Brittany Watts (Severn, Md.) led the Falcons with nine digs and six kills while junior Tieayrra Glover (Queens, N.Y.) logged 14 assists and nine digs.