Clemson Volleyball Stays Perfect with 3-0 Win at Winthrop

Sept. 4, 2010

ROCK HILL, SC – The Clemson volleyball team, which has relied heavily on defense in the early going, used a big offensive day to move to 5-0 on the season with a 3-0 (30-28, 25-16, 25-17) win over Winthrop on Saturday. The Tigers hit a season-best .423 on the day, committing only nine attack errors in the match.

The Tigers will play their final match of the Carolina Challenge on Saturday evening against the College of Charleston, where they will go for their second tournament championship in as many weeks.

Serenat Yaz led all players with a career-high 14 kills, while also hitting .429. She also collected 11 digs for her second double-double of the season. Sandra Adeleye had 12 kills and hit .588, and also added five blocks, including three solo. Natalie Patzin had a season-high ten kills with no errors in 22 attempts.

Cansu Ozdemir had 13 digs to lead all players form the libero spot. Freshman Mo Simmons also added nine kills and six digs in the match.

Clemson won a tight first set, 30-28. The teams traded points early in the set before Winthrop was able to put together a four point streak to take a 19-16 lead. Hoover responded by putting in freshman Hannah Brenner at setter. She promptly led the Tigers on a 7-3 run. Clemson face a match point deficit twice, but fought it off to win the set on kills from Simmons and Patzin to close out the set. Clemson hit .349 in the set, as Serenat Yaz posted seven kills in 12 attacks, and Simmons had five kills. Brenner had 10 assists despite playing half the set.

The second set was all Tigers, as Brenner led the Tigers to a .533 hitting mark in the set. After the Eagles scored the first point, the Tigers rattled off four straight, taking the lead for good. Clemson stretched the lead to eight points at 17-9 after a pair of Adeleye kills sandwiched around a Patzin kill during a 6-1 run. The Tigers took advantage of four service errors from the Eagles, and after a block by Patzin gave the Tigers a 24-15 lead, Alexa Rand closed the set with a kill of her own to give Clemson a 25-16 set win.

Winthrop again scored the first point in the third set, but Clemson quickly responded with a seven-point run behind a pair of kills from Simmons and a pair of solo blocks and a kill from Adeleye. Another 4-0 run gave the Tigers a 13-6 lead. Winthrop kept clawing, closing the gap to three at 18-15. However, Clemson’s defense took over, with Clemson going on a 6-1 run to close out the match, propelled by five attack errors from the Eagles, who hit an opponent season-high .200 in the match. Clemson hit .419 in the set and .423 overall, committing only nine attack errors in 104 swings.