Greensboro, N.C. - The Greensboro College Volleyball team should sleep well the next several nights. Head Coach Kevin Troup's squad has played a tremendous amount of highly competitive volleyball the past few days. The rigorous schedule included 34 sets of play over a seven-day period. A grudge match at home against Guilford would be sandwiched between a tri-match in Fayetteville, N.C. and a pair of trips to Virginia to face three opponents. On Saturday afternoon, the schedule would call for a trip to Staunton, VA to play a tri-match against William Peace University and Mary Baldwin University.

Match 1- Greensboro College (11-9, 5 -2) vs. William Peace U. (18 –10, 8-0)

Set 1 - The Pride began the afternoon of play with energy as they jumped to a 16-10 lead behind the continued strong play of Payton Shiflet and several uncharacteristic mistakes by the conference leaders. However, the Pacers would gather and earn the next six points to tie the match. An Abey Hancock service ace would draw the Pride back even at 20 and the visitors would take the lead and a 22-21 advantage on by a kill by steady Taylor Cotie. But that would be the last point of the set as the Pacers would score the last four for the 25-22 win and the early advantage.

Set 2 - To this point in the season, there had not been a set of volleyball more difficult than this one for this young Pride team. The Pacers would get out quickly and never look back in a lopsided win by a score of 25-6.

Set 3 - Facing a "must win" situation the Pride would again find themselves in another difficult situation as the Pacers would rush to a 20-10 lead. The Pride would dig deep and put together a five point run, mostly aided by some Pacer errors and another kill by Shiflet. But the comeback was short lived, and the match would end with a 25-18 set win for William Peace as they would remain undefeated in conference play.

Match 2- Greensboro College (11-10, 5-3) vs Mary Baldwin University (2-21,  0-8)

Set 1 - The only question for the second match of the day would be could the Pride pick themselves up from fatigue and the disappointment from the earlier match? The set would begin in see-saw fashion with leads being exchanged often. The Pride would embark on a five-point run aided by the Fighting Squirrels' errors, a kill by Hancock, and a service ace by Lauren Mantel to gain a 13-9 advantage. Mary Baldwin would make a push late in the set, but it would come up short as the Pride would take Set 1 by a score of 25-22 to regain that winning feeling.

Set 2 - Coach Troup would delve into his bench for this set and the new faces would not disappoint. A kill by Krista Brantly, a service ace by Grace Klingensmith, heady play by Soleil Rios Rolon, and the usual suspects such as "The Maestro" and "The Power Company" would lead the rejuvenated Pride to a 25-15 victory while scoring five of the last six points to slam the trap and ground the Fighting Squirrels.

Set 3 - The Pride walked on the court with a mindset of going home as soon as possible. They jumped out early to a 12-5 advantage and could see the end of the grueling week in sight and ending on a positive note. The Fighting Squirrels would push back to tighten the game to 16-13. But from that point on the Pride would activate their "getaway game" as it was time to bear down and take care of business. And that is exactly what they did as they blazed to a 9 to 2 run to finish the set and match. Energetic Jade Vrobel and Kantley McKown would deliver two kills apiece to put the Pride up seven and Hancock and Jaylyn Templeton would end the match with a couple of "floor darts" that could not be returned. The set would end in the Pride's favor by a 25-15 count to wrap up the match and a sweep.

Greensboro College's Head Coach Kevin Troup had these thoughts on the long journey the past week: "This was a tough week of volleyball for this young team. We had four matches against some very good competition. We are learning from each match. We are halfway through the conference schedule, and we are still in a very good spot. We just need to keep getting better."

The GC Volleyball team will next play on Wednesday, October 13th, against Salem College in historic Hanes Gymnasium. The match begins at 7:00PM.

For more information about Greensboro College Volleyball, please visit www.greensborocollegesports.com.