Box Score Carly White led all players with 14 kills and Mount Olive posted a season-high team hitting percentage for the second straight match as the Trojans extended their winning streak to five and remained unbeaten in conference play with a 25-18, 25-12, 25-12 victory over Converse in Conference Carolinas women's volleyball Friday at Spartanburg, S.C. The Trojans hit over .300 in each set and finished with a .346 team hitting percentage just two nights after compiling a .325 hitting percentage at Chowan.
Mount Olive (5-7 overall, 3-0 Conference Carolinas) spotted Converse the first two points of the opening set, then went on a 6-0 run to take the lead for good. Converse (0-13, 0-3) got as close as 16-14 before Sarah Watkins' block and Montgomery Register's kill helped Mount Olive pull away. The Trojans' scored the final four points of the set, capped by Nicole Karas' ace on set point.
In the second set, Lauren Lee accounted for the first three points of a 15-2 run with two kills and a solo block as Mount Olive turned a 5-5 tie into a 20-7 advantage. Converse cut the margin to single digits as Meg Taylor and Katie Butler each had a kill for the Valkyries. A kill by White and an ace by Nicole Sparks highlighted a set-ending 4-0 lead to give the Trojans a two-set lead.
Converse scored the first point of the third set for its first lead since going up 2-0 in the opening set. But Watkins' kill broke a 3-3 tie and the Trojans led the remainder of the set. An ace by Karas and a kill by White triggered an 8-1 run as Mount Olive took its first double-digit lead of the set at 18-8. The margin never fell below eight points and kills by Register and Alysha Tyms-Burnett helped the Trojans score the final three points of the match.
White, who also recorded five blocks, had only three errors in 21 attempts for a .524 hitting percentage. Lee finished with nine kills and only one error in 20 attempts for a .400 hitting percentage. She also tallied a match-high 14 digs. Karas recorded 24 assists, nine digs and three aces. She has 18 aces in her last five matches for an average of an ace per set.
Four different Converse players had four kills apiece. Kandace Griffin recorded two service aces, while Aubrey Cosby had eight digs.
Mount Olive completes its weekend road trip to Upstate South Carolina as the Trojans travel to Gaffney, S.C., to take on Limestone in Conference Carolinas action. Match time is 1 p.m.