Written and Media by Nathan Craig.
The Greenville College women’s volleyball team had a successful and entertaining season. Sadly, all things must come to an end.
The Lady Panthers lost in the first round of the NCAA division three tournament. They ended the season 25-8 overall and 16-2 in conference. Winning their seventh straight conference championship, they hosted the SLIAC tournament for the fifth time in a row. On average, the Panthers had 11.66 kills per set, 10.78 assists per set, 2.17 blocks per set, and 13.66 digs per set. In their 33 games, GC had stellar statistics and play.
Watch the video below as head coach, Tom Ackerman, discusses the season and what is next for the Lady Panthers.
This season, the women’s volleyball team had many player’s individually stand out for their talents on the court. The SLIAC all-tournament team included two Greenville players, seniors Janisha Pealer and Sierah Ruffner. Senior, Kirsten Laune, also received all-tournament honors when she was named tournament MVP.
To add to GC’s accomplishments, four players received all-conference honors. Junior, Allyson Mitchell, and senior, Savannah Sells, were named first team all-conference. Ruffner was named second team and Laune received third team all-conference honors.
These ladies received honors because of their fantastic statistics throughout the season. Mitchell was second in the conference for kills. Her averages of kills per set and service aces per set were 3.57, 421, and .53. Laune also had impressive offensive stats. She finished fourth in the conference for service aces per set with an average of .45 and second in conference for assists per set with an average of 9.37.
Greenville had players stand out with defensive stats as well. In conference, there were three players in the top five for blocks per set. Sells was first in conference with 1.09. This helped her receive defensive player of the week twice throughout the season. Brittni Bell was second with 1.01 blocks per set and Ruffner was fourth with .96. Ruffner was also fourth in conference with a .301 hitting percentage.
The ladies not only dominated on the court, but in the classroom as well. Seven of the girls received SLIAC all-academic honors. These ladies include Brittni Bell, Felicity Giddings, Kirsten Laune, Allyson Mitchell, Janisha Pealer, Kaytlynn Roberts, and Sarah Watts.
The women’s volleyball team continues to enjoy competing in front of a tremendous fan base at HJ Long Gymnasium and are hungry to see what next season brings for them as they compete for eight conference titles in a row.
