Senior middle blocker Amber Smith and junior outside hitter Alison Young guided the Bryan College volleyball team to a 2-0 weekend over AAC opponents Saturday, securing a share of the AAC regular season championship, the first in Bryan volleyball history.
The Lions opened with a match against AAC #3 Montreat College. Smith served up a 5 point service run early in set one to push the Lions to a 7-1 lead, and the Lions never looked back, winning the match 3-1 (25-12, 19-25, 25-16, 25-16). Smith hammered 11 kills and blocked back 3 solo and 4 assisted blocks to guide the Lions. MB Ashley Sours was strong as well, finishing with 9 kills (.350 pct), 3 aces, and contributing on 3 blocks. Alison Young hit .458 with 11 kills and no errors, while Jessica Kaya and Amanda Manke contributed 16 and 15 digs to guide the Lion defense. Manke also dished out 19 assists, along with Hannah Suits’ 17 assists.
In the second match against AAC #4 Milligan College, Courtney Cotter started the Lions strong with a seven-point service run to give the Lions an 8-0 lead, then Sours picked up with an 8 point run to give the Lions a 25-10 win, in the first. The two service runs appeared to rattle the Buffalos and gave the Lions the impetus to finish their regular season with a 3-0 925-10, 25-16, 25-14) victory. Smith hit .500 in the second match with 11 kills, while Young contributed 10 kills (.348 pct) and OPP Kaylan Dilts added 7 kills (.308 pct) to the effort. Hannah Suits contributed a double-double with 20 assists and 11 digs, while Sours equaled her best serving day with 4 aces and Cotter added 3 aces. The victory gave the Lions a 15-1 record in the AAC, identical to Union College of Barbourville, KY.
The two teams, who split home matches with each other, were named 2009 AAC Co-champions. The Lions, now 23-13 overall, will travel to Kingsport for the AAC conference tournament Tuesday-Thursday. They will open play as the #2 seed against #8 Virginia Intermont College Tuesday at 5 p.m.