Shannon Skryd has a grand total of 830 kills in her entire career at UNC Pembroke. PN Photo/Andrew Thrift
By: Ja’Quel Williams
The Braves defeated the Barton College Bulldogs 3-0(25-15, 25-23,25-22) on Friday, Oct. 22. This win improves the Braves to 18-8 on the year and 10-2 in conference play.
Offensively, the Braves racked up 43 total kills on 40 assists being led by Katelyn West, Brianna Warren, and Erin O’Donnell who accounted for eleven, ten, and seven kills respectively, while Katie Pressley led the pack with 32 of the teams assists. This game brought Pressley’s season total to a conference leading 696 assists. Pressley credits her teammates for helping her get so many assists.
“We were able to stay “in-system” which is ideal to set up a hitter,” said Katie Pressley. “I also owe it to our amazing hitters on the team that I can rely on getting a kill no matter where they are on the court.”
Defensively, The Braves tallied two blocks and 73 digs, being led by Shannon Skyrd, Elise Martin, and Marissa Morgan who accounted for 18, 15, and 14 Digs respectively, and Brianna Warren, who tallied two blocks.
The Braves defeated the Mount Olive Trojans 3-2(26-24, 21-25, 25-16, 16-25, 15-5) on Saturday, October 23. This win improves the Braves to 19-8 on the year and 11-2 in conference play.
Offensively, the Braves tallied 59 kills on 57 assists, while also racking up 10 service aces, for 77 total points. The Braves were led by Brianna Warren, Shannon Skyrd and Erin O’Donnell who accounted for 12, 12, and 10 kills respectively, while Katie Pressley led the pack with three service aces and 53 assists.
Defensively, The Braves tallied eight blocks and 90 digs, being led by Elise Martin, Shannon Skyrd, and Katie Pressley who accounted for 25, 18, and 16 Digs respectively, and Brianna Warren, who tallied seven blocks.
Briana Warren and Katie Pressly were able to make a big impact both offensively and defensively during the game and credited the team’s communication and good practices.
“Coaches had us work on defense and aggressive serving in practice and it translated into the game really well,” Pressley said. “We work a lot on blocking throughout recent practices,” said Warren.