The Appalachian State University Lady Mountaineers took their blocks and hit away.
After a tied first half of women’s volleyball action, Appalachian dominated the East Tennessee State Lady Bucs with 30-28 and 30-24 games to win the contest last Tuesday night at Brooks Gym.
“They did a good job running the middles against us,” said ETSU coach Dean Webb. “We weren’t able to top them.”
The contest broke even at the beginning with the Lady Bucs jumping out quickly. But Appalachian tied them and eventually spread out to a five-point lead. Kate Steidle was everywhere for ETSU during the beginning keeping her team in the contest.
But it was a battle up front with ASU’s Kali Rumberger and ETSU’s Sara Scandiffio trading shots towards each other. Katherine Dean pushed Appy to a six-point lead at the halfway point in the first period.
However, ETSU took some plays from Kristi Robinson and Meghan Connolly to push it down to three.
The Lady Bucs battled Appalachian strong with a cut down to one point. But Appalachian took the 30-27 advantage in the first period.
In the second period, Stefanie Panzer led ASU to a quick lead early, as Nicole Ryan bounced the Bucs back. ETSU reclaimed a tie contest and their first lead since the beginning of the first period.
ETSU grabbed some good offense from Karen Freeberg and Renee Vesey to build a seven-point lead later on. Staria Gustafson helped Appalachian cut back to a two-point deficit.
Katherine Dean and Chrissy Finch built Appalachian State back up, but ETSU climbed into a five-point advantage. The Lady Mountaineers roared back to a one-point deficit. But the Lady Bucs drove the nail into the coffin with a 30-26 second period to tie the contest at the half.
The second half was all ASU.
The Mountaineers roared to a 5-1 lead in the third period before ETSU could break down to another rally. Nicole Ryan battled ETSU around on ASU, but a carry over dunk by Dean on the Bucs sucked some momentum.
Both teams worked hard, with Appalachian keeping a two-point advantage throughout the majority of the period. The teams swapped throughout but Appalachian took a 30-28 hold in the third period.
Appalachian completely dominated the Lady Bucs in the fourth period. However, ETSU kept showing hard throughout the entire contest.
Appalachian kept a six-point lead throughout the majority of it, eventually going up by seven at one point. ETSU cut it down to four, but it wasn’t to be, as ASU rolled away with a 30-24 win.
“I basically told them to come out and play intense volleyball,” said Appalachian coach Chris Redding. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve always had some fun and hard matches with ETSU. We’re definitely enjoying it, happy to compete with them this year.”
“I was real pleased with our effort,” Webb said, “We blocked good early on, but it didn’t take away what we needed. We needed our front to do more.”
Appalachian’s Panzer and Dean led the contest with 22 and 21 kills respectively. Ryan led ETSU with 17, and had a game-high with 51 takeaways. Vesey had 44 set assists for the Lady Bucs, with 10 digs and 10 kills to record the first triple-double of the season for ETSU.
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On a brighter note, Steidle tallied 22 kills and a .472 hitting percentage to lead ETSU to a four-game win (30-28, 30-26, 22-30, 30-24) over Furman Saturday in Greeneville, S.C.
The Lady Bucs received five kills, 52 assists and eight digs from Vesey. Ryan added 15 kills, while Freeburg totalled a match-high 27 digs.
Abby Simon and Laura Bush led the Paladins with 18 kills a piece, while Amber Montague recorded 15 kills and 14 digs.
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On Friday, the Lady Bucs defeated Wofford at Benjamin Johnson Arena. ETSU dropped the first game, 28-30, before rebounding to win the next three (30-24, 30-25, 31-29).
Ryan led all players with 22 kills in the contest. Steidle finished with 19 kills, and Connolly picked up the double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs. Vesey had 57 assists in the match.

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