GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Clinton College volleyball team unfortunately dropped all four of their weekend matches at the Bob Jones Invitational over the weekend in Greenville.

Clinton first fell 3-0 at Bob Jones University (SC) on Friday afternoon before dropping their rematch with conference foe Regent (VA) 3-1 later Friday. The Lady Bears then lost tight matches to NCCAA Boyce College (Ky.) 3-1 and to Div. III Brevard College (NC) 3-2 on Saturday.

In the loss to BJU (6-8) on Saturday, the Lady Bruins out-killed the Bears 13-7 in the first set to take it 25-15. A very competitive second set then saw Clinton hold a lead late but fell 26-24 on 17 kills hitting .297. However, BJU kept up their consistent play to defeat the Bears 25-14 in the third set for the win.

Freshman Middle blocker Monica Burns led the Bears with 11 kills hitting .364 with 2 assists and a block while fellow middle hitter Alexia Cunningham had 3 kills and a block. Junior OH Amoni Washington then had 5 kills with 3 assists, 6 digs and an ace while setter/OH Sierra Faulkner produced 4 kills, 14 assists, and four digs.

Senior setter Vanja Tomic then had five kills hitting .375 with 7 assists, four digs and a block. Junior libero Love Landon then recorded 9 digs with 4 assists and a kill while libero/DS Ashanti Washington had five digs, two aces and two assists. 

The Lady Bears then matched up with Regent (3-6) and fell 16-25, 25-18, 19-25, and 21-25. Clinton hit .250 in the first, .103 in the second with 13 kills, and finally .258 in the 4th set on 11 kills. RU and CC each had the same amount of kills in the match but the Bears committed more attack errors.

Faulkner led the team with a huge double-double of 29 assists and 16 digs along with 5 kills and an ace while the libero, Ashanti Washington, then led the team with 20 digs along with 4 assists and 3 aces. Amoni Washington then tallied 8 kills, 8 digs and an ace in the tough loss. Tomic also added 3 kills, six digs, and two assists while freshman Tatiana Maddox finished with six kills and 11 digs. Burns also led the team with 12 kills in the middle along with 5 digs and 2 blocks while Cunningham had 4 kills and 3 blocks.

In the four set defeat to Boyce College (6-7), the Golden Bears dropped the first two sets 19-25 and 20-25 before rallying to win the third 25-22, but lost a close 4th set 22-25. Clinton hit .227 in the first with 10 kills while hitting .444 in the third with 15 kills. They were led by 20 kills from middle Monica Burns, her season-high, as she hit .308 with 2 aces and a dig. Cunningham also added 8 kills and a block while Am. Washington had 3 kills.

DS Madison Hatchett brought in nine digs and a kill while libero Ashanti Washington had 11 digs and 2 assists. Faulkner then registered 26 assists, 5 digs, 5 kills and 2 blocks as the setter/OH while fellow setter Tomic had 6 digs, 6 assists, 2 aces and a kill.

Finally, in Clinton's final match of the weekend on Saturday afternoon, they matched up with NCAA Div. III foe Brevard College (8-2) and went to five sets winning the first 25-19 on 13 kills hitting .444 before BC charged back to take the second 25-13 on 14 kills hitting .464. The 3rd set saw the Tornados edge the Bears 25-22 before Clinton rallied to win the fourth 25-21 hitting .267 with 11 kills. Sadly, though, Clinton fell 15-7 in the fifth as they opened it with a 5-4 lead but BC went on a 11-2 run for the win.

Clinton totaled 44 kills in the match led by 13 kills from Amoni Washington and 14 kills from Burns. Burns hit .364 with 5 solo blocks while Cunningham again had 6 kills and 2 blocks. Amoni added six digs while Ashanti Washington poured in a team-best 19 digs with 4 assists and a kill.

Freshman Sierra Faulkner added 31 assists as the setter along with 3 kills, 10 digs, and one ace while Tomic added 12 digs, 2 kills and 2 assists. Maddox added six kills while DS Madyson Gillespie had five digs, three assists, and an ace.

Clinton falls to 5-6 on the year and will next go on the road Monday night to face NCAA Div. II Winston Salem State at 6 PM.