Blossoms Begin Inaugural Volleyball Season

Blossoms Sweep UAPB

Led by a 15-kill night from Amanda Sayre, the University of Arkansas at Monticello Cotton Blossoms (3-7) made their first-ever home match a memorable one, sweeping the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff 3-0 tonight at Steelman Fieldhouse.

Photo by Will Collins

Pass — Amanda Sayre passes the ball during a recent practice. The Blossoms beat UA-Pine Bluff in their first home match.

   The Blossoms forced 13 Lady Lion errors in the opening game, holding UAPB to a -.346 hitting percentage in a 30-11 opening-game victory. UAM continued their torrid hitting in the final two games, winning 30-15 and 30-14.

   Sayre led the Blossoms with 15 kills and a .522 hitting percentage, while Katherine Brown and Kasey McBrearty led the Blossoms with six digs apiece. Maegan Martin dished out 27 assists.

   The Blossoms hit .369 for the match, holding UAPB to a mere -.176.

   The Blossoms return to action Sept. 15 at the UCA Tri-Match, facing Central Arkansas and Lyon. The opening match is at 3 p.m.

Blossoms Drop Two on Final Day of Mule's Cantina Classic

MAGNOLIA, Ark. --- The University of Arkansas at Monticello Cotton Blossoms (2-7) dropped their final two matches at the Mule's Cantina Classic on the campus of Southern Arkansas University Sept. 3, falling 3-0 to Texas Woman's University and then dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker to Southeastern Oklahoma.

   In the opener, the Texas Woman’s Pioneers controlled the pace throughout the match, sweeping past the Blossoms 30-23, 30-22 and 30-25. TWU’s Robin Hawkins dominated, notching 17 kills and a .430 hitting percentage, taking advantage of 11 UAM blocking errors.

   Kasey McBrearty led the Blossoms with 11 kills, while Maegan Martin added 17 assists, and Katherine Brown and Amie Kronk had 14 and 12 digs respectively. UAM managed only a .063 hitting percentage for the match.

   In the closer, the Blossoms fell behind after losing the opening game to Southeastern Oklahoma 30-25, but UAM rallied to take the next two games by scores of 30-28 and 30-22 to take a 2-1 match lead. The Savages tied the match with a 30-27 victory in game four and clinched the come-from-behind win with a 15-11 win in the fifth game.

   McBrearty led all players with 26 kills, while Amanda Sayre added 20 kills in the loss. Martin added 17 assists. Brown’s 27 digs led the way, while Martin (24), Sayre (19), Amie Kronk (17) and McBrearty (13) were all in double figures.

   SOSU’s Jennifer Landry was dominant, taking advantage of 14 UAM blocking errors en route to a 23-kill night with a hitting percentage of .400.

Blossoms Win First Matches in Program History

MAGNOLIA, Ark. --- The Cotton Blossoms volleyball team won their first two matches in program history Sept. 2, downing Dallas Baptist 3-2 in the opener and then beating West Alabama 3-1 in the day's finale at the Mule's Cantina Classic.

   Dallas Baptist started the opener with a flurry, taking a 30-25 victory to give them a 1-0 match lead. The Blossoms evened the match at a game a piece with a furiously contested 36-34 victory in game two. DBU
seemed to seize a bit of momentum in the third game with a 30-22 victory, but the Blossoms responded in kind in the fourth game, evening up the match at 2-2 with a dominant 30-14 victory. UAM sealed their victory with a 16-14 victory in game five to give the Blossoms their first-ever win.

   McBrearty led all players with 24 kills. Sayre added 19 kills and Katy Stoneking added 11. Martin dished out 53 assists, while Brown led all players with 32 digs. All in all, five players notched double-digit digs for UAM, as Sayre (21), McBrearty (17), Martin (14) and Kronk (10) also contributed to the winning cause.

   The Blossoms hit .203 for the match, including an outstanding .481 percentage in the fourth game of the match. Individually, Stoneking led all players with a .391 percentage.

   UAM came back immediately to win the second match in program history, knocking off the Tigers of West Alabama 3-1 with game scores of 27-30, 30-27, 30-27 and 30-25.

   UWA took advantage of 11 Blossoms errors in the first game, but UAM rallied throughout the rest of the match, boosting their overall hitting percentage to .128. The Blossoms were able to benefit from 16 UWA service errors.

   UWA’s Amanda Heaton led all players with 18 kills. Sayre led the Blossoms in the second match with 17 kills, while McBrearty added 14. Martin once again led the way with 39 assists, while Kronk led UAM with 18 digs. McBrearty pitched in 15 digs while Martin, Sayre, and Brown all had 14 digs in the winning effort. Martin also added four service aces for the Blossoms.

Blossoms Fall to Louisiana-Monroe

MONROE, La. --- Despite a 17-kill effort from McBrearty, the Cotton Blossoms dropped a 3-0 decision to the University of Louisiana-Monroe Indians Aug. 31 at Brown Gym in Monroe, La.

   The Indians opened up a 19-11 lead in the opening game and held the Blossoms at arm’s length the rest of the way, finishing off a 30-23 opening game victory on a Megan Gloor kill. ULM opened the second game on fire, taking a 10-3 lead before the Blossoms were able to recover. UAM pulled to within 18-14 before the Indians stretched the lead back out to 24-16. The Blossoms once again narrowed the gap to 29-24, but ULM pulled out the 30-24 victory in the second game.

   The Indians pulled away in the middle portion of the third and final game to clinch another 30-24 game victory and the match victory.

   McBrearty led all players with 17 kills. Martin added 17 assists while Sayre, Brown and McBrearty all finished with double-digit digs, pulling up 17, 15 and 10 respectively.

Blossoms Drop Pair on Final Day of UWF Comfort Inn-Vitational

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The Cotton Blossoms volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on the final day of the UWF Comfort Inn-vitational Aug. 27, losing a pair of 3-0 decisions to the University of Indianapolis and Presbyterian College.

   Indianapolis was hot all the way through, hitting .342 for the match, including a match-high .439 percentage in the third and final game on the way to picking up 30-19, 30-21 and 30-15 game victories.

   McBrearty led the Blossoms with a match-high 13 kills and added 10 digs, while Martin led UAM with 27 assists. Brown led the Blossoms with 16 digs.

   In the finale, the Blossoms played Presbyterian closely in the opening game, falling 30-23; but the Blue Hose responded with a flurry, shutting down the UAM offense with 30-14 and 30-18 wins to seal their victory.

   Sayre led the Blossoms with nine kills, while Martin and Brown led UAM with 18 assists and 12 digs, respectively.

Blossoms Drop Close Pair On Opening Day

PENSACOLA, Fla. --- The University of Arkansas at Monticello Cotton Blossoms volleyball team played their first matches in program history Aug. 22, falling 3-0 to No. 15 Florida Southern and then dropping a 3-1 decision to West Florida.

   Florida Southern started the opener hot, taking the first match 30-10; before the Blossoms rallied, narrowing the gap to 30-20 in the second game and 30-25 in the third and final game. Florida Southern hit .400 in the opening game, but the Blossoms slowed down the Lady Mocs, holding them to a .218 hitting percentage for the entire match.

   McBrearty had a game-high 12 kills along with seven digs for the Blossoms, while Brown had 16 digs and Martin had 18 assists. Beverly Stasis and Rachelle Konczal both had 10 kills for the Lady Mocs.

   The Blossoms fell 30-25 in the opening game to West Florida, but came back to win the first game in program history with a furiously-contested 34-32 win in the second game after forcing 13 West Florida errors. However, the Argonauts were able to keep the Blossoms at bay for the remainder of the match, winning games three and four by the scores of 30-23 and 30-25.

      Sayre had a game-high 18 kills for the Blossoms, while McBrearty added 16 kills. Martin added 37 assists, while Sayre and Brown led the Blossoms with 20 digs apiece. Kronk added 15 digs and Martin added 12. UAM hit .127 for the match, holding West Florida to a .204 percentage.

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© The Voice 2005
Revised 09/17/2007 01:46:44 PM— http://www.uamont.edu/Organizations/TheVoice/3_1/vb.htm