Oilers Begin Season with Two Victories in Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – The University of Findlay volleyball team opened up play at the 2021 NSU Volleyball Shark Invitational on Friday, Sep. 10 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with a pair of matches. The Oilers began the with a 3-1 (26-24, 20-25, 25-17, 25-19) victory over Millersville University and capped the day with a dominant 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-12) win over Dominican College (N.Y.). With the wins, Findlay begins their season with a perfect 2-0 record while Millersville is now 2-4 on the year and Dominican is 2-3.
In the first set of the day, with the score at 18-18, Findlay won four consecutive points, three of which came on kills by senior Madison Moore, to ultimately win the opener. The Oilers did themselves no favors as they hit just .087 in a second set loss to tie the match. However, Findlay scored 11 of the third set's first 16 points and would cruise to a 2-1 advantage. In the fourth set, the score remained close late, but Findlay scored the final five points of the frame to take a 3-1 win in the season opener.
As a team, Findlay hit .212 with 57 kills on 137 attacks. The Oilers also served the ball well, picking up 11 aces in the match.
Match number two saw the Oilers against Dominican College, a team that plays in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC). The Chargers were no match for the Oilers' firepower as Findlay went on to a sweep in which they did not allow Dominican to score more than 17 points in a set.
Findlay hit a blistering .367 in the match with 45 kills on 90 attacks. The Oilers added seven aces while Dominican hit just .105 and had 22 kills.
Playing in her first collegiate event, freshman Journey Blevins burst onto the scene as she tallied 26 kills on the day while hitting a torrid .457. She capped her day with a ten kill, .529 performance against Dominican to round out an incredible debut.
Not to be outdone was sophomore Hannah Warrington, last season's Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Freshman of the Year. The Findlay native had 25 kills on the day for an average of 4.17 kills per set while hitting .345. She also added seven digs, two aces, and a block on the day to lead the team at 4.6 points per set.
Senior Madison Moore tallied 19 kills with a .244 hitting percentage while sophomore Hannah Bruns had 15 kills and hit .200 on the day. Moore led the Oilers with seven blocks on the day.
Senior transfer Ashton Terrill had a good day in her Oilers debut as she led the team with 25 digs while senior Abigail Schroder, Findlay's setter, totaled 81 assists and 12 digs.
Findlay will be back in action tomorrow as they wrap up their event in Fort Lauderdale. The Oilers will play Barry University at 9:30am and will end the day with a 12:30 matchup against Auburn University at Montgomery.