FLORENCE, SC ? Francis Marion University celebrated Senior Day with a dominant sweep over Chowan University (25-15, 25-9, 25-11) on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 8) at the Smith University Center in Conference Carolinas volleyball action. Junior outside hitter
Madilyn Gartner was the frontrunner for the Patriots as she had match-high 11 kills.
With this victory, the Patriots up their overall record to 20-9 and 17-2 in conference play, marking the program's 19th 20-win season and the second under coach
Lauren Baufield-Edwards. FMU, which has earned at least a share of the East Division crown, will conclude its regular season Tuesday at 6 p.m. Wth a road match at the University of mount Olive. Meanwhile, the Hawks' overall record depletes to 5-22 and 4-15 in conference.
Apart from Gartner, star performances came from senior middleblocker
Caroline Lucas with ten kills on a .625 hitting clip, junior rightside
Camryn Faggart garnered six kills, and senior setter
Mya Mendoza dished out a match-high 28 assists. Senior libero
Katie Floyd led the FMU defense with 15 digs.
Lucas moved up two positions to sixth place on the FMU career kills list with 1,139, passing Kelly Feber and Krissy Burt.
A 6-1 run helped Francis Marion pull away from Chowan towards the beginning of set one thanks to kills from Faggart and Chowan mistakes. Lucas, freshman middleblocker
McKayla Stockwell, and senior outside hitter
Katie Kemp added their contributions to help secure the set victory, 25-15.
Lucas accounted for five of FMU's eight points during a strong run in set two, with support from Gartner. Gartner continued her dominant performance, tallying five kills in the second set, while a block from Stockwell and graduate middleblocker
Vanessa Blake, followed by a kill from Blake, sealed the commanding 25-9 victory.
Francis Marion remained in control in set three with the help of Lucas, Gartner, Stockwell, and Faggart. Kemp and sophomore middleblocker
Ella Curbow added firepower to keep the ball rolling for FMU before Gartner delivered the final kill to defeat the Hawks, 25-11, and completed the sweep.
