Britni Johnson had a double-double day and led the University of Mount Olive to a 25-20, 25-20, 16-25, 25-27, 15-12 defeat of Pfeiffer University Sunday afternoon in Conference Carolinas women's volleyball in Misenheimer, N.C. Johnson picked up six of her 11 kills in the first set.
The first set Mount Olive (3-13 Overall, 2-4 Conference Carolinas) used a trio of three point runs to edge out in front on Pfeiffer (1-11, 0-6) 19-8. The Falcons fought back as back-to-back attack errors led to a six point run. A Pfeiffer service error stopped the run with the Trojans still ahead, 20-14.
Mount Olive stopped another three-point run by Pfeiffer, with a kill by Alysha Burnett and the Trojans led 22-17. The Trojans took the first set after an attack error by the Falcons.
The Trojans started off the second set hot as they took the first five points. Both teams exchanged three point runs and Britni Johnson's ace sealed the end of the Trojans run as they led 10-7. Two three-point runs by the Mount Olive extended the cushion to 14-9. Both squads exchanged two point blows for the remainder on the set until a bad set by Pfeiffer allowed Mount Olive to take the second set.
Pfeiffer started off the third set with a pair of multiple point runs to take a 7-3 lead. Sarah Watkins ended the second run with a kill that deflected off a Falcon and dropped in out of bounds. The Falcons rallied to take the third set however capitalizing off Trojan errors.
In the fourth set Pfeiffer's offense used a two three-point and one four-point runs to take a 12-8 lead. Mount Olive countered with a four-point run of their own to knot the set up at 12. The set went back and forth as it was tied up nine more times before back-to-back kills by Shenelle Charlot forced a fifth set.
The Trojans took the first four points of the final set before a service error stopped the run. Mount Olive continued to push and moved the score to 7-1 and forced Pfeiffer to call a timeout. The timeout proved well as the Falcons rallied for four straight points. Burnett came in with a kill to stop the run for Mount Olive and start a four-point rally. A service error put a halt to the Trojan rally. Back-to-back service errors gave Mount Olive a 13-6 lead. After Pfeiffer put up three unanswered points, Mount Olive was forced to timeout. The Falcons continued to attack and added to what was a six-point rally. Danielle Stachura faked a set pass to give Mount Olive a side out and Sydney Kanupp finished match with the final kill.
"I think the swing defiantly picked up our energy and got us to think about the next play and our setters trusted our hitters and we just did our thing. This is great momentum, we are going to have the confidence we've been missing, this puzzle piece we were looking for" said Burnett after the match.
Johnson finished with 11 kills and 15 digs in the contest. Burnett also finished with 11 kills. Stachura added 25 assists for the Trojan s.
Mount Olive will return home this Friday to play host to Lees-McRae College at 7 p.m.