Box Score Birmingham, Ala. – The Berry College volleyball team took a huge step in its quest for a Southern Athletic Association championship. The Vikings rallied from a 1-0 deficit to prevail 3-1 (22-25, 28-26, 25-11, 25-22) on Friday night at Birmingham-Southern.
Berry improved to 19-5 and 12-1; B-SC dropped to 14-9 and 9-4.
Setter Stephanie Quinn had 53 assists, and 15 digs for the visitors. She went over the 3,000 mark for career assists in the match. Freshman Emily Stromberg also had a double-double after recording a match-best 16 kills and 15 digs.Libero Jennifer Tinnell had 31 digs for BC.
"Birmingham Southern came out firing on all cylinders, and I felt like we were playing less aggressive than usual," said Berry Head Coach Mika Robinson. "Yet I was really proud of how we finished strong and got the win against a great team on the road."
In set one, Berry pulled out 5-1 to start but BSC put together an 8-2 run to pull ahead 9-7. The Panthers stayed ahead until the Vikings tied it up twice, after which BSC scored four straight points to pull ahead 17-13. BSC led 19-17--at which point Berry scored three straight to pull ahead, 20-19. The teams traded points after that before the Panthers eventually won 25-22.
Set two was even closer. Neither team led by more than four points before the Vikings put it away on a kill by Quinn, 28-26.
Berry dominated the third set, going up 7-2 and never looking back, eventually winning 25-11. Set four was another close one, though, with Berry leading almost the whole way, but never by more than three. The Vikings won 25-22 on a kill by Katie O'Rourke.
Meredith Hopper, O'Rourke and Gretchen Kaufman all collected 11 kills in the match. O'Rourke had seven blocks, including one solo effort.
Shelby Moore had 15 kills to lead the Panthers.
The Vikings head to Millsaps to face the Majors on Saturday. The match will be for the SAA regular season championship. Additionally, the winner will host the 2012 SAA tournament.
