University of Connecticut Athletics
Volleyball Dominates West Virginia, 3-0, On Senior Day
11/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
STORRS, Conn. (November 13) - Seniors Heather Ashley (Smithsburg, Md.), Megan Crawley (Georgetown, Texas) and Jenny Neelands (Gainesville, Fla.) closed out their UConn careers with a 3-0 (30-24, 30-19, 30-25) victory over West Virginia on Sunday afternoon in Gampel Pavilion. With the win, UConn wraps up the 2005 season with a 15-13 overall record and a 7-7 mark against BIG EAST competition.
Ashley got things started for the Huskies in the first game, tallying a kill on the first play of the game to give UConn the quick lead. UConn would hold onto the lead until West Virginia came back to tie the score at 10-10. The two teams traded points back-and-forth for much of the remainder of the match until UConn opened up a 22-18 lead. The Huskies increased that lead to six at the close of the game on a service ace by sophomore Julie Pickard (Hillsborough, N.C.) For the game, junior Kaity Criag (Terryville, Conn.) led the Huskies with four kills and four total blocks. Freshmen Sarah Singer (Waukesha, Wisc.) and Lorelle Schaub (New Brighton, Minn.) each had three kills in the game while Crawley and Ashley each added two.
The second game proved to be all Huskies, as UConn opened up a 11-5 lead to start play. The Huskies increased their lead to eight, 18-10, on a kill by Ashley and continued on that pace to close out the match by a score of 30-19. Singer had five kills in the game to lead UConn while Crawley had four. She also picked up three digs in the game. Ashley and sophomore Sade Chambers (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) each tallied three kills in the game.
Although the Mountaineers kept the Huskies close to start the third game, UConn took a 9-8 lead on a kill by Neelands and did not look back. Ashley led the Huskies with five kills in the game while Singer added four. Neelands had two service aces and three digs in addition to her kill while sophomore Brittany Stewart (Dolton, Ill.) picked up five digs in the game.
For the match, Singer led UConn with 12 kills. She also picked up four digs and two solo blocks in the victory. Ashley had her 19th double-digit kill match total of the season with 10 while Crawley added nine kills while picking up seven digs and one service ace. Fellow senior Neelands had three kills, 36 assists, two service aces and nine digs in her Husky finale. Craig had six kills, one service ace and four blocks in the victory for UConn.
West Virginia (16-13, 4-10) was led by Kelly Mullins, who had nine kills in the match. Stephanie Zolna and Tammy Wolf each had seven kills, with Zolna also picking up six digs.
