Shreveport – The Centenary volleyball team split a pair of matches on Friday as the Ladies opened their regular season at home in the "Country Cajun Classic" at the Gold Dome.
The Ladies (1-1) opened their season with a 3-1 victory over Millsaps College and then fell 3-0 to Howard Payne in the final match of the day. Seven matches were contested on Friday and seven more will be played on Saturday. The four other schools participating alongside the Ladies, Millsaps and Howard Payne are Belhaven University, Rhodes College, McMurry University, and Texas A&M University-Texarkana.
Match one recap: Centenary 3 Millsaps 1
The Ladies totaled 80 digs, 50 kills, and 47 assists while the Majors finished with 79 digs, 56 kills, and 48 assists. Centenary had eight service aces while Millsaps finished with six and each team recorded a pair of blocks
Centenary took the first set 25-20 and then won set two, 25-23. Millsaps responded with a 27-25 win in set three before the Ladies closed out the match in set four, 26-24.
Junior OH/DS Kiara Liedy (Sugar Land, Texas) had a team and match-high 21 digs while senior MB/OH Robin Lemelle (Liberty, Texas) and junior RS Jaylin St. Martin (New Orleans, La.) each had 18. Sophomore S Meadow Smith (Mansfield, Texas) tallied 10 and sophomore DS/L Daly Nagot (Benton, La.) added nine.
Smith had a team-leading 28 assists and added a team-high three aces along with a pair of kills. Liedy and Nagot each had two aces and St. Martin had one. Junior MB Elizabeth Canady (League City, Texas) had a team-high 15 kills, St. Martin had 11, and freshman OH/DS Mackenzie Haley (Orange, Texas) had 13 for a solid collegiate debut. Freshman RS/S Victoria Larson (Royse City, Texas) also had an impressive debut with 12 assists and a kill.
Freshman MB/OH Reign McArthur had five kills and three assisted blocks and freshman MB Bailee Henderson (Monroe, La.) finished with one dig and one assisted block.
Zoe Elder had a match-best 38 assists for Millsaps, Brenna Macaluso led the way in digs (20), and Anna Capezzera's 18 kills were tops for the Majors. Four Millsaps players finished with double-digit digs and Ally Baer joined Capezzera in double digits in kills.
Match two recap: Howard Payne 3 Centenary 0
Howard Payne won the first set by a count of 25-17 and then edged the Ladies 25-23 in the second set before closing out the win with another 25-17 score in set three.
Centenary finished with 59 digs, 34 assists, and 24 kills. The Lady Jackets totaled 67 digs, 40 kills, and 39 assists. Smith capped off an impressive opening day for the Ladies with 28 more assists in match two to give her 56 for the day. She added 18 digs, three kills, and an ace. Liedy had 13 digs and three assists, and Lemelle finished with seven digs, an assist, and a kill. Canady added eight kills, three digs, two aces, and an assist. St. Martin had a team-best 10 kills and added nine digs. Nagot had six digs and senior OH Madison Schonberg (Harbor City, Calif.) made her debut and tallied eight kills and two digs.
Centenary will play the final two games of the tournament on Saturday – at 4 p.m. against Texas A&M-Texarkana and 6:30 p.m. versus Belhaven.
Live video and live stats will be available for all of Saturday's matches. Links are available at www.GoCentenary.com
Remaining Country Cajun Classic Schedule:
Saturday, Sept. 2:
Court one:
9 AM – Millsaps vs. McMurry
11:30 AM - Texas A&M-Texarkana vs. Rhodes
2 PM - McMurry vs. Belhaven
4 PM - Texas A&M-Texarkana vs. Centenary
6:30 PM – Belhaven vs. Centenary
Court two:
9 AM – Rhodes vs. Howard Payne
NOON – Millsaps vs. Howard Payne
See the complete Ladies' schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/wvball/2023-24/schedule
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