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Volleyball rolls 3-1, secures season sweep of Berry
By Matt Green
ROME -- Freshmen Tori Bradley and Jasmine Crook had 13 kills apiece and Shorter University completed the season sweep of cross-town rival Berry College with a 25-18, 17-25, 25-18, 25-14 victory over the Vikings on Tuesday night in front of a lively crowd at Winthrop-King Centre.
Shorter (17-5) routed Berry for a second time this season -- the Lady Hawks dealt the Vikings a 3-1 defeat at the Cage Center back on Sept. 20.
Berry (9-10) had no answer for Shorter's first-year duo. Both Bradley and Crook hit .320 for the match and combined for nearly half of Shorter's 53 kills.
Loren Olive, who missed the first meeting between the schools with an ankle injury, had nine kills and Leslie Welch chipped in with eight kills and five blocks for Shorter, which has now won six of the last seven meetings in the series.
Shorter also won its third straight match and fifth in its last six outings.
As all Shorter-Berry bouts seem to go, each team traded blows early on before the Lady Hawks finally established their dominance in the third set.
The Vikings had plenty of momentum after cruising to a 25-17 win in the second set and raced out to a 4-1 lead to start the third. Shorter slowly crawled back into the third set and drew even at 9 on a kill from Crook before an attacking error from Meredith Hopper granted Shorter its first lead of the game at 10-9.
Three straight kills from Bradley ignited a 4-0 run for the Lady Hawks that put them up 14-10, and after Berry crept to within 20-18 late in the set, Shorter responded with five consecutive points to regain a 2-1 lead in the match -- consecutive kills by Bradley and Crook closed out the Vikings in the frame.
Shorter finished off Berry with an efficient fourth set during which the Lady Hawks recorded 16 kills against just one error.
Jordan Corder had 25 assists for Shorter and Olive finished with 13 digs to lead the team. Meghan Weller added four aces.
Claire Scott paced Berry with 14 kills and Stephanie Quinn had a match-high 41 assists.
The Lady Hawks return to action this weekend, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7 and 8, when they travel to Daytona Beach, Fla., for the Embry-Riddle Invitational.
