By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
 
HATTIESBURG – The undefeated season may be a thing of the past, but William Carey University is still riding high in volleyball.
 
The Crusaders stayed in a tie for first place in the Southern States Athletic Conference Saturday afternoon with a straight-sets victory over Middle Georgia State at the Ben Waddle Complex on the WCU campus.
 
Carey led most of the way in the 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-17) triumph and improved to 22-1 overall and 10-1 in conference play. The Knights dropped to 4-10 and 2-8.
 
The Crusaders won their third straight match after suffering their first loss of the season to Blue Mountain College last Saturday. WCU outlasted Mobile 3-2 on Tuesday, then defeated Brewton-Parker 3-0 on Friday.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of the way they responded," said Carey head coach Kelsey Weldon. "Blue Mountain is a really good team, and it was a tough five-set loss.
 
"But to turn right around and play another team that's at the top of the conference in Mobile is not an easy thing to do, especially in their gym. They had an amazing crowd, so I couldn't be prouder of the way they played at Mobile."
 
Carey got off to a fast start in the match, grabbing a 6-0 lead in the first set off the serve of sophomore Rachel Hartmann, who had a pair of aces to cap the rally.
 
"That is something this team has done a really good job of," said Weldon. "Just taking each match one game at a time. I think you need something a little different against each team we're playing, and they did a really nice job of figuring out what they needed at the start."
 
The Crusaders were dominant at the net getting 39 kills to 26 for Middle Georgia. Senior Mia Hague 14 kills and 30 attacks to lead Carey, and junior Elaina Anderson had 8 kills and 22 attacks.
 
"We started off a little rocky at the net, but we became more disciplined at staying at the net as the match went on," said Anderson. "It was just a matter of being in the correct spot at the right time."
 
Carey built an 11-3 lead off the serve of sophomore Reagan Huff before the Knights rallied. Middle Georgia cut the margin to 17-13 before Hague took a feed from Hartmann for a clutch kill.
 
"It's just all about getting practice and getting the right mindset," said Hague. "It's OK to know that, 'hey, we missed the first one, so the next one is ours,'"
 
Hartmann had 28 assists and sophomore Kacey Lear had 19 digs for Carey.
 
After regaining the serve, Hague closed out the first set with a pair of service aces.
 
Middle Georgia led briefly early in the second set at 1-0 and 2-1, the only times the Knights led in the match. But Hague had another kill to tie the score and forced errors on the next two points to put WCU ahead for good.
 
The Knights stayed in the set, narrowing the margin to 9-7, before Weldon called her only time out of the match, and the Crusaders gradually pulled away. Anderson had an ace to end the set at 25-16.
 
Weldon was especially pleased with the contribution from the Crusader bench. Senior Emma Roberts had 11 attacks to bolster the Carey attack.
 
"I think in matches like last night and tonight, it's a good opportunity for us to use multiple aspects of our team, to try different rotations, to try different people that we're going to need in some other matches," said Weldon
 
"I thought everybody did a great job taking care of their responsibilities in whatever role they were in today."
 
The third set started much like the first, as the Crusaders jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Huff had a kill to open the set, the Knights had consecutive errors, and Anderson had a kill to put Carey in a comfortable position.
 
"It's really good to start off strong to grab the momentum, and to help us prepare for our next games," said Hague.
 
As was the case throughout the match, Hague stepped up after Middle Georgia narrowed the margin to 9-7, getting a kill off a set from senior Rachel Messer.
 
Hague then served for four unanswered points, and the Crusaders maintained at least a five-point margin the rest of the match.
 
Fittingly, Hague finished out the match with another kill, then had the final serve, forcing an attack error after blocks by Hartmann and freshman Evy Harlan.
 
After a busy week, Carey gets nearly a full week off before returning to action next weekend for a pair of key matches at home. The Crusaders have a rematch with Mobile on Friday, then welcome Faulkner on Saturday.
 
"We kind of got (the undefeated record) off our back, and got that out of the way," said Anderson. "We didn't play very well (against Blue Mountain), but we were able to come back and win the next couple of matches."