Dora Mercado/East Tennessean

The East Tennessee State University volleyball team cruised to a dominating 3-0 sweep (25-19, 26-24, 25-22) over Western Carolina in front of an energetic crowd on Saturday.

Freshman Makayla Bays in just her second career start was electric, leading the Bucs with a career-best 14 kills while adding 11 digs for her first career double-double. Junior Isabelle Iosua also shined, hitting a career-high 11 kills.

ETSU found its rhythm early, and went up 13-9. The Bucs never took their foot off the gas, with senior Abbey Thomas putting down one of her four kills, helping ETSU close out the set with a 25-19 win, finished off by a kill from Iosua.

The second set was a different story as Western Carolina started strong, building leads of 13-9 and 17-10. The end of the set started heating up with ETSU gaining momentum, but despite trailing 24-22, the Bucs held strong. Three straight attack errors from Western Carolina led the Bucs a sound 26-24 victory, shifting the momentum back to ETSU.

The third and final set was a thriller, with 15 ties and five lead changes keeping the crowd on the edge of their seats. Tied at 20-20, Iosua came through again, hammering down her 11th kill of the night to give ETSU the lead for good. Soon the Bucs led 23-20 but Western Carolina grabbed two more points, but the women sealed the deal as ETSU completed the sweep with the final two points of the night.

The Bucs now look ahead to a road test at Furman, with a match scheduled for 6 p.m. on Oct. 25 in Greenville, S.C.

 

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