ASHLAND, Va. – In just the second five-set match of the season, Randolph-Macon women's volleyball hit over .400 in the deciding set to gain an important Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory over Bridgewater Wednesday night. Junior Angela Tender (Manassas, Va./Stone Bridge) made a Top 5 performance in school history in the game. 

The Basics

Score: Randolph-Macon 3, Bridgewater 2 (20-25, 25-19, 24-26, 25-22, 15-10)

Location/Venue: Ashland, Va./Crenshaw Gym

Records: Randolph-Macon (14-7, 8-1 ODAC), Bridgewater (18-5, 6-2 ODAC)

How It Happened

• Bridgewater took a quick lead in the first set, going up 8-4 and forcing an R-MC timeout. BC kept its distance through the set, with the Yellow Jackets getting as close as one point. R-MC got a tie at 19-19, but Bridgewater six of the next seven points as the Eagles won the set 25-20.
• The two teams played closely for the first half of the next set. R-MC got a couple of huge kills from freshman Sydney Koch (Raleigh, N.C. / Sanderson) and junior Miranda Hall (Mechanicsville, Va. / Hanover). After Bridgewater got a lone kill, R-MC got another two from Hall and Fitzwater. Combined with an Eagle attack error, R-MC got the five-point lead to 15-10. R-MC stayed just ahead of Bridgewater all the way to the end of the set, where senior Mariah Clark (Stuarts Draft, Va. / Riverheads) finished the set with a kill as the Yellow Jackets won 25-19.
• As was the theme of the evening, the third set was close from the start. R-MC got a three point lead after a kill by Hall and senior Emily Fitzwater (Bealeton, Va. / Liberty) to go up 9-8. The Yellow Jackets held the slim margin through the middle of the set, getting ahead by as many as four before Bridgewater launched a four-point run of its own to tie the set at 16-16. R-MC got three in a row with kills from junior Bailey Jones (Suffolk, Va. / Norfolk Collegiate), Hall and Clark to go up 20-18, but Bridgewater came storming back and won the last three points to get the win 26-24.
• R-MC took a three point lead in the third set after a pair of Bridgewater attack errors and a kill by Clark, getting ahead 6-3. A four-point run helped R-MC get ahead 10-5. Bridgewater came back with four points of its own, and eventually got the tie at 11-1 and the lead with a service ace at 12-11. R-MC played from behind for a bit, getting ties to 14-14, 15-15 and 16-16. But from there, R-MC used a series of BC errors to get ahead by three. Clark added a service ace to jump out to the four point lead. Bridgewater came back to tie the match at 22-22, but R-MC closed the set out with kills from Clark, Hall and Fitzwater to win 25-22.
• R-MC took the momentum into the fifth set where the Yellow Jackets jumped ahead to the 5-3 lead. An attack error by BC added one to the tally before BC scored again. Koch tallied a kill before the Yellow Jackets ceded one point to the Eagles. Hall got the kill at point number eight which forced the teams to swap sides. Once switched, R-MC ripped off four points via two kills from Hall, one from Clark and an attack error by BC. With the 12-6 lead, R-MC headed to close out the set, where Clark ended the deciding frame with a pair of kills.

Inside The Numbers

• R-MC hit .417 in the final set, making just one error on 24 attacks while gaining 11 kills.
• Hall led R-MC with 20 kills, with Clark following closely behind with 17.
• Tender made 54 assists in the match, which was a Top 5 mark in school history for a single match. It is also a new career high for her.
• Clark tallied a pair of service aces while Koch, Tender and freshmen Macguire Gubba (Grove City, Pa. / Grove City Area School District) and Madison Warlick (Charlottesville, Va. / Albemarle) each tallied one.
• Sophomore Mackenzie Loewe (Leonardtown, Md. / St. Mary's Ryken) tallied 33 digs while junior Alexia Wolfe (Midlothian, Va. / James River) dug up 25 volleys.
• Koch and Tender each made four block assists while Fitzwater had three and Wolfe and Clark each had two. Hall also made a block in the match.
• R-MC hit around .200 for the entire match.

Up Next

Randolph-Macon will face Ferrum and Roanoke on Saturday in Salem at an ODAC tri-match. The games begin at 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM.