Box Score
SALISBURY, NC – The Livingstone volleyball team kicked off its season with a convincing victory over the St. Paul's College Tigers Friday evening in the opening match of the 2010 Livingstone College Invitational.
The Blue Bears dispatched of the Tigers 3-0 (25-7, 25-14, 25-10) in just 58 minutes to improve their record to 1-0 while St. Paul's fell to 0-1.
In the first set the Blue Bears fell behind 3-1 early until senior middle hitter Michelle Thompson stepped to the service line. Thompson held service for nine points including five service aces which gave the Blue Bears a 10-3 edge. Freshman outside hitter Leigha Tillman continued the strong service game for Livingstone as she served five consecutive service aces, increasing the Blue Bears lead to 17-5 and St. Paul's wasn't able to recover. Livingstone took the first set 25-7.
St. Paul's came out strong again to start the second set, but was unable to maintain any momentum. The Tigers led 3-0 and led again at 6-5 before Livingstone gained control at 8-7. The Blue Bears took the lead and ran with it again gaining control from the service line. Senior outside hitter Lashaundra Ferguson record three-straight service aces and Tillman finished off the second set with four service aces as the Blue Bears took the second set 25-14.
In the final set Livingstone didn't allow St. Paul's to grab the early lead. Senior outside hitter Shannon Allen served the first eight points, grabbing an early 8-0 lead for the Blue Bears. St. Paul's had no answer for the Livingstone attack in the third set and the Blue Bears took the final set 25-10.
Lashaundra Ferguson led the Blue Bears with 12 kills for the game while Shannon Allen led the team with a .556 hitting percentage. Michelle Thompson also added seven kills to help the squad while Leigha Tillman has nine service aces.
As a team the Blue Bears finished with 29 kills, only nine errors and a .351 hitting percentage including a .625 percentage in the first set. They also added 22 assists, 29 service aces and 25 digs. The Tigers had four kills, a -.057 hitting percentage with three assists, three services aces and 19 digs.
The Blue Bears will be back in action on Saturday at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. when they take on Spelman and the District of Columbia respectively.
