GLENVILLE, West Virginia - In their third leg of their road swing, the Salem volleyball team headed over to Glenville State this evening for a big rivalry game matchup with the Pioneers. It was a drama filled contest throughout, and the Tigers uncorked a dominant performance to pull out a well-earned 3-1 win at The Waco Center.
In set 1, Salem fell behind initially, but quickly put a 5 point run together with Valentina Poti at the service line. The Tigers took control there, and rode some strong play from Noemi Combi down the stretch to secure set 1 25-14.
For the next set, the Tigers faced some adversity early, but kept things close with some key kills from Makenna Long. The set was tightly contested down the stretch, but it would be a late Pioneer surge that won the set for Glenville State 28-26, and evened up the overall contest at 1-1.
Next, Salem had a tight, back and forth game early in set 3. The Tigers and Pioneers went point for point throughout most of the set. However, Salem got their final edge to win with a late rally fueled by kills from Jocelyn Rios and Hailey Haynes. Therefore, Salem took a 2-1 advantage in the contest via a 25-20 win in set 3.
In the final frame, it was again an extremely tight match with both teams trading small leads throughout the set. This went down to virtually the final points of the set, but Salem was finally able to put just enough distance between themselves and the Pioneers to pull out the set win at 26-24, and therefore the contest win 3-1.
From the scorer's table, Salem was led offensively by 11 kills each from Noemi Combi and Makenna Long. Combi also added 5 service aces for the Tigers, and Arianna Parsley added 19 assists on the night. Defensively, Valentina Poti led Salem with 16 digs.
With this big win, Salem should have some extra energy ahead of their return to the comfort of their home floor in T. Edward Davis Gymnasium. The Tigers are set for the first of three straight home games on October 22nd when the Warriors of Appalachian Bible come to town for a 6 PM matchup.
