Clemson Volleyball Wins a Pair on Saturday

COLUMBIA, SC – Clemson head coach Jolene Jordan Hoover won her 498th and 499th career matches as Clemson earned a pair of 3-0 victories over Winthrop (25-15, 25-17, 25-17 – recap) and UAB (25-17, 25-15, 25-18) on Saturday in the Carolina Clash in Columbia. The Tigers improved to 8-2 on the season as they prepare for their conference slate, which begins next week in Atlanta. Mo Simmons, Alexa Rand, and Sandra Adeleye were a force on Saturday, combining for 70 of Clemson’s 88 kills in the two matches on Saturday. The sweeps served as a good bounce-back for the Tigers, who had dropped two in a row, including to South Carolina on Friday night.

Simmons and Adeleye were each named to the All-Tournament team, as Clemson finished as the runner-up to South Carolina, who went 3-0 on the weekend.

Clemson was able to score with good ball-control, and used aggressive serving to tally 16 aces in six sets on Saturday, including seven against Winthrop (3-6), and nine against UAB (5-6). Clemson finished plus-14 in serving points against UAB, with nine aces to two errors, while the Blazers turned in the opposite card. The Tigers hit .308 against the Blazers, and used solid play at the end of each set to win each frame by at least seven points, despite 26 tie scores and 11 lead changes in the match. Adeleye led all players with 15 kills (3e-28ta .429), while Simmons (12k-5e-33ta .212) and Rand (11k-1e-18ta .556) also finished in double figures. On the day, Rand had 20 kills in 28 swings with just one error in the two matches. Kamryn Sherman finished with 17 assists and seven digs, while Hannah Brenner had 14 assists from the setter spot. Natalie Patzin finished with a match-high 16 digs, while hitter Serenat Yaz had a season-high 11. In the first set, Clemson got ahead 14-10 before UAB clawed back to tie it at 15-15. The teams traded points before Sherman found Adeleye for a kill to side out, and then Yaz followed with an ace. Another ace, a trio of kills and a block go Clemson to the finish, 25-17The second set was tight in the early going as well, but a pair of 6-0 runs for the Tigers helped Clemson pull away for a 25-15 set win. Clemson had led 19-15, but a well-place Hoover timeout halted the run and Clemson shut out the Blazers the rest of the set. In the third, Clemson went on an 8-1 run behind two kills and two blocks from Adeleye to go ahead 22-15, and the Tigers tallied their final three points on a pair of service errors and a kill from Yaz. Clemson heads to Atlanta to take on Georgia State and Georgia Tech in the Georgia Tech Classic next weekend.