BALTIMORE, Md. – Battle at the Bay Tournament Most Valuable Player, Katy Buck led the Towson University volleyball team to a 3-0 victory over Morgan State in the final match of the tournament on Saturday night. Buck was joined on the all-tournament team by senior Marta Machos.
The Tigers (4-0) did not drop a set in four matches at the tournament, including 3-0 victories over Coppin State and Morgan State on Saturday.
“It's nice to get some matches under our belts,” said Tiger coach Bruce Atkinson. “I thought we progressively improved match by match throughout this tournament. Hopefully we will be able to build upon this in preparation for our match Tuesday night.”
The Tigers posted their win over Coppin State with set victories of 25-11, 25-22 and 25-9. The hitting percentage for each team played a role in the Tigers' victory. Towson hit .400 or better in two of the three sets and finished the match hitting .322. The Tigers held Coppin State to a negative hitting percentage in two of the three sets as the Eagles finished the match hitting .074.
Senior Alysha McCreary had her second straight double digit kills match, finished with 10 and adding five blocks. Fellow senior Aubrey Kirven contributed 32 assists, eight digs, four service aces and three kills in the contest. Sophomore Paige Sekerak and senior Stacey Niehoff tied Kirven for the team lead in digs with eight.
Cindy Okpegbue led Coppin State with nine kills while Gabrielle Otero had 14 digs.
Against Morgan State, the Tigers posted the win with set victories of 25-16, 25-9 and 25-12. For the second straight match, the Tigers turned in a strong hitting performance finishing the match with a .415 percentage. That performance included a .625 hitting percentage in the second set. Towson held Morgan State to a -.072 hitting percentage for the match.
Junior Dayane Van Ass led all players with 10 kills while Machos hit .625 with six kills. Buck had five kills, five digs and two service aces while Kirven contributed 23 assists, four digs and three service aces. Sekerak led the Tiger with eight digs for the second straight match.
Arianna Hayden led Morgan State with seven kills.
The Tigers return to action on Tuesday, August 28 when they host Loyola in the Towson Center at 7 p.m.
