October 23, 2024 – The Davidson-Davie STORM celebrated Sophomore Night by defeating the University of South Carolina Union Bantams in four sets (24-26 25-19 25-10 25-16) on Tuesday in Brinkley Gym to end the season 7-21. Davidson-Davie was lead by strong operformances from Logann Beaver (12 kills), Lucy Lockwood (9 kills, 3 solo blocks), and Carleigh Whitson (5 aces, 13 digs).
Before the match began, the STORM honored their sophomores Whitson, Isabella Grieser, Haley Pease, and Mackenzie Roach. Head coach Emma Carter has much to praise about each of these players. When talking about Grieser, Carter says she is “not only a skilled athlete, but she creates a fun and positive atmosphere that will be hard to replace!” Pease “sets the standard when it comes to reliability, and she is always willing to step up for the team and get the job done,” Carter says. When asked about Roach and Whitson, she says that Roach “has a critical job on the court and handles the pressure with class. Her passion for the sport is contagious…,” and Whitson “plays with tenacity and a fire that ignites our entire team. She is a fierce competitor and an anchor on the back row, which will be hard to replace.” Congratulations to these ladies and may their future be as bright as their careers were at Davidson-Davie.
The first set was back-and-forth due to many errors made by both sides, whether they were serve errors or just misplaced attacks. Beaver and Lockwood notched their first pair of kills in this set, while Natalie Franko had three of her five kills in this set alone. One of those kills was a big one for the STORM, tying up the set 24-24. Even though Davidson-Davie was unable to win this set, they definitely used it as motivation going forward.
The second set is when the STORM settled in. They started to capitalize on their attacks and the mistakes that the Bantams made. Not only did Davidson-Davie have a great offensive performance with 12 kills, but they also showed some defensive prowess with three blocks and 15 digs. Grieser had a stellar sequence when she had a clutch dig and got back up to get the kill to make the score 17-14. Soon after, Lockwood had back-to-back kills to make the score 21-14 in an electric sequence. Out of the 12 kills in this set, nine were assisted by Roach or Julie Johnston.
After the second set, Davidson-Davie never looked back with a dominating final two sets, outscoring USC Union 50-26. In the fourth set, Beaver started off hot, quickly grabbing three kills to get the STORM a quick lead. Whitson was also able to grab four of her five aces, three of them being in very quick succession. This match was a great sendoff for the sophomores before they start the conference tournament on November 1 at Richard Bland College in Petersburg, VA.