Fayette, Mo. – The Central Methodist University volleyball team defeated the Graceland University YellowJackets on Tuesday evening, by a final score of 3-1 inside of Puckett Field House on Breast Cancer Awareness Night. Final scores were: 25-18, 22-25, 25-22, and 25-13.
With the victory, Central Methodist improves to 23-3 on the season and 5-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play. With the loss, Graceland University falls to 10-11 overall and 0-4 in The Heart.
The Eagles and YellowJackets came out ready to go on Tuesday evening, as the teams exchanged point-for-point early on. Central would go on a roll midway through the set, and never look back. CMU hit 25% in the first set and finished with 11 kills, as they came out victorious 25-18.
CMU took a step back in the second set, as Graceland came out and attacked early. Every time the Eagles would go on a run and draw within a few points, the YellowJackets would flip the script and go on a run themselves. Graceland took the second set by a final of 25-22.
Central found themselves in another dogfight in the third set, as Graceland kept it close throughout. CMU outhit Graceland 27% to 14%, and consequently were able to take the set by a final of 25-22. In the third set, CMU finished with one more kill, and three less errors than Graceland.
In the fourth and final set, the Eagles were in attack mode, while Graceland was laboring. Central jumped out to a big lead, and won the fourth set by a final of 25-13.
Darcy Latham (JR/Bismark, Mo.) led the Eagles with 16 kills, while Caitlin Petty (SO/Leopold, Mo.) led the team with 39 assists. Erin Dodd (SR/Pittsburg, Ill.) finished with a team high 29 digs in the contest.
The Eagles hit the road to Iowa this weekend for three matches. On Friday, CMU will head to Dubuque, to face Clarke University at 5pm and then Morningside College at 7pm. Then on Saturday, the Eagles will head to Cedar Rapids to face Mount Mercy University at 2pm.
For more information about Central Methodist University athletics, visit http://www.cmueagles.com. Follow CMU athletics on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cmathletics and on Twitter twitter.com/cmueagles.
