NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Converse hit .228 from the net and finished the match with 14 service aces on the way to a 3-0 (25-9, 25-20, 25-15) victory over the UNC Pembroke volleyball team on Saturday evening in the Conference Carolinas Tournament finals inside the North Charleston Athletic Center.
The setback for the Braves (17-18, 11-7 CC) snapped a six-game winning streak and ends their season. The Valkyries (23-9, 13-5 CC) have now won their last four matches and will earn the automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Senior Precious Daley and sophomore Tyler Patterson were named to the All-Tournament team.
Converse hit .250 from the net in the opening set and took an early 14-5 lead following a UNC Pembroke attack error. Precious Daley and Ruby Countryman each picked up a kill to cut the UNCP deficit back to 14-7, but the Valkyries finished the set on an 11-2 run to win 25-9.
A Countryman kill gave the Braves a slight 8-7 lead in the second set, but Converse out together a 7-2 surge to take a 14-10 advantage following a Megan Carpenter kill. UNCP outscored CU 6-3 to work its deficit back to 18-17, but the Valkyries hit a match-best 293 from the net and scored seven of the final 10 points to win the set 25-20 take a two-set lead.
Converse won the first five points of the third set, but UNC Pembroke rattled off five straight point to knot the score at 5 apiece. The Valkyries pushed their lead out to 14-9 after a kill from Ariel Bryant, but the Braves worked their deficit back to 14-12 capped off with a kill from Abby Peduzzi. Converse went on a 9-1 run to pad its lead, 23-13, and used kills from Alayah Robertson and Noemia Chiacchio to win the set 25-15 and claim the match.
Countryman, Daley and Peduzzi all had five kills to lead UNCP; Peduzzi also had eight digs and Daley had three blocks. Patterson ad 20 assists and 19 digs, Karagyn Durco had eight digs, McKenna Hayes had three blocks and Brette Doile had two aces.
