The ETSU volleyball team rode the shoulders of MVP setter Carey Cavanaugh to the championship of the Microtel Inn & Suites Winthrop Invitational that concluded last Saturday.
The Lady Buccaneers defeated Charleston Southern and the host Winthrop Eagles to finish with a 3-0 record.
Georgia Southern took second place with a 2-1 record while Winthrop finished 1-2 and Georgia State was fourth at 0-3.
With Cavanaugh at the controls, ETSU opened the day with a 3-2 win over Georgia Southern in a battle of Southern Conference foes.
The Lady Bucs won the match in typical fashion as they took game one 30-20 before dropping the second and third games 30-27 and 30-22 to find themselves in a big hole.
ETSU tied the match with a 30-27 hard-fought win in game four and then won the deciding game 15-12.
The Lady Bucs produced a balanced attack on offense and defense as six players reached double digit kills and six had double figures in digs.
Karen Freeburg, who joined Cavanaugh on the All-Tournament Team, led ETSU with 16 kills and 20 digs. Cavanaugh finished the match with 59 assists.
GSU’s Susan Bindshedler led all hitters in the match with a .500 attack percentage with 18 kills while Martina Veiglova led five Lady Eagles in double figure digs with 18.
ETSU claimed the tournament crown with a 3-1 win over Winthrop.
The Lady Bucs dropped game one 36-34, but came back to sweep the host Eagles 30-27, 30-19 and 30-17.
Cavanaugh again had 59 assists to go along with 10 kills from her setter position.
Freeburg led the offense again with 23 kills and a .391 attack percentage.
Winthrop’s Erin Lehman led the Eagles with 15 kills while Anna Vagstad finished with 17 digs.
Georgia Southern claimed third place with a 2-1 record after disposing of Georgia State 3-0 (31-29, 30-13, 30-17) behind the play of Camille Grover who collected a team-high 17 kills and 14 digs.
Amber Ciskowski had 11 assists and seven kills and Kate Steidle has 17 kills with an assist for the Lady Bucs in their victory over Winthrop.
Kate Steidle and Natalie Atzinger also reached double digits in kills for the Lady Bucs against Winthrop with 17 and 14, respectively.
The Lady Bucs will next play at Chattanooga on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.
The first home game for the volleyball team will be Sunday Sept. 16 against Georgia Southern. Then they will play Lipscomb College at home on Sept. 17 before heading back out on the road to face Furman on Sept. 21.

Author