UNION UNIVERSTY VOLLEYBALL SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST:

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Union Volleyball Dig Pink Night

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Union winning streak snapped

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V O L U M E

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Union bounces invitational. Senior Night

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Dig Pink night/ extend winning streak

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Union loses to TNU

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Union travels 2-3 to SCAD Invitational Senior Night

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Union volleyball pretty in pink, win 10th straight

back at SCAD

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On the night when Union University's volleyball team wore pink jerseys to help bring awareness to breast cancer, the Lady Bulldogs rolled to a 3-0 (25-20, 2515, 25-11) victory over Rhodes (Tenn.) College. With the win, Union (18-4) extended their seasonlong winning streak to 10 matches with key wins over Cumberland University, Lambuth University, and finally Rhodes College. This marks the longest streak for Union since an 11-match win streak back in 2006. Union opened play in the first game, recording 17 kills while hitting .302 for the game. The momentum remained on Union's side of the court for the rest of the night. Union was led by Ashley Young with nine kills and a .727 hitting percentage. She also added a block on the night. Amanda Coyle and Emilie Ogas each recorded eight kills. Katie Adams posted 34 assists while CJ Neathamer led with 19 digs.

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Union’s 10 match winning steak comes to an end. October 21, 2008 - Coming off of Fall Break, the Union University Lady Bulldog volleyball team saw their longest winning streak since 2006 come to an end on Tuesday night in a 3-1 (19-25, 25-16, 26-24, 25-19) loss at Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) University. The 10-match winning streak for Union started back on September 26.

Lady Bulldog Volleyball team celebrates after a big block. On Dig Pink night against Rhodes College

Union (18-5, 8-4) took the first game as the Lady Bulldogs seemed to be well on their way to an eleventh straight win. However, the host had other ideas as Trevecca Nazarene took the second game with a quick 25-16 win. Game three was much closer, but the Trojans prevailed 26-24. Trevecca Nazarene used the momentum of that win to close out the match with a 2519 win in game four.

Union Volleyball travels to Savannah, GA for the SCAD Invitational Following the loss to Trevecca Nazarene University, which ended their 10 match winning streak, the Union Volleyball team looked to start another winning streak by competing in the competitive SCAD Invitational. This is one of the key tournaments in the nation where the only teams that can play in it have to be ranked or invited by the host Savannah College of Art and Design.

Anna Sims gets a big kill on Dig Pink night against Rhodes College.

The Union team made the 10 hour trek to Savannah, GA on Wednesday , October 22 along with a group of parents and boosters numbering 25 people on the bus.. The next morning the team checked out the historic city by taking a Trolley tour of the city. Following the tour the team got the privilege of eating at the Famous “Lady and Sons Restaurant” which is the restaurant of famous southern cook Paula Dean. The players got to tour the sites and shop on foot before coming back to the hotel to prepare for the tournament. On Friday, October 24 the Union faced off against a scrappy defensive team in St. Thomas University (FL). The team went on to win 3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-18, 25-14). Following the St. Thomas match, the Union Volleyball team had to face off the very tough and often ranked—University of St. Francis of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Union went on to win 3-0 with the scores of 25-21, 25-22, and 25-14. Union was led by Amanda Coyle with 15 kills in the first match. Followed by Anna Sims and Emilie Ogas with 10 kills each. Katie Adams posted 38 assists, while Sims led with seven blocks. Continued on page 3

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Union Travels to Savannah continued... Following the matches on Friday, the team and their fans went to eat at the great “Sticky Fingers Restaurant” known for its great bar-b-que and ribs. Then back to the hotel to prepare for another day of matches. On Saturday, Oct 25th, Union again faced off against some tough opponents in Warner Southern and Webber International. The Union team came out and played like the did the previous day by defeating Warner Southern 3-0 ( 25-19, 25-16, and 25-18). In the win, Union was led by Emilie Ogas with seven kills. Heather Lieberman and Amanda Coyle added six kills each. Katie Adams posted 26 assists, while CJ Neathamer and Lieberman led with nine digs. Anna Sims led Union with five blocks, while Ashley Young posted four blocks. Union had to wait for their court to play against their final opponent Webber International. Webber International was a key opponent in that they were ranked in the NAIA national polls (# 27) and they were the team that took away FreedHardeman’s undefeated season. The Lady Bulldogs were anxious to see how they matched up. This match became an exciting match with both teams matched up evenly swapping points on both sides. Union lost the match 3-0 but the scores were so close that the match could have went either way with the scores of 22-25, 23-25, 23-25. Union was led by Ogas with 12 kills, followed by Coyle with 10 kills. Adams recorded 33 assists, Neathamer added 17 digs, while Anna Sims recorded six blocks. Coach Gream stated about the tournament—“ This was a big tournament for us, in that, it is good for getting us ready for the conference tournament. Webber is a great opponent but we showed that we can play with them and teams like them. That will give us confidence going into the conference tournament and beyond.”

Wally Being Brave with a Gator at “The Crab Shack”

Volleyball team taking a picture with Paula Deen’s sons at the “Lady and Sons Restaurant

Senior Night: A Time to Recognize our wonder Seniors. Senior Night is always a night of mixed emotions. On one hand you are happy because it is a night of celebrating the accomplishments of the seniors, but on the other hand - it is a night that tells you that it is the last home match of the regular season for your seniors. Union University Volleyball is graduating four seniors this year (CJ Neathamer, Emilie Ogas, Amanda Coyle, and Lindsey Wallach) and this senior night was no different than other senior night. We were all sad and happy at the same time when each senior was called to receive her senior gift and have her accomplishments read to the crowd. This night was also a big night for the team, in that, it was a high quality match against our conference rival FreedHardeman who had won the conference regular season championship. This was a time for the Lady Bulldogs to work on things in preparing for the Conference Tournament and also a chance to ruin Freed’s perfect regular season record, who at the time was 13-0 in the conference. Union volleyball holds the previous two perfect TranSouth Conference seasons (2004: 10-0 and 1999: 110) and did not want to share the record with Freed. Union had a big crowd for senior night with the gym being packed with Union sports teams, clubs, boosters, and students who were given extra credit to come watch the match. So the gym was electric going into the match. Union started the match with a lot of energy as they looked to hand the Lady Lions their first conference loss. Union jumped to a 21-12 lead in game one. However, Freed-Hardeman rallied back to make the score 22-21. But it was Union who took the first game. In game two, Union led 20-16 late and was serving for match point at 25-24, but failed to get the need point. Union again served for match pont at 27-26, but the top team in the TranSouth recorded three straight points to take the set. Game three saw FHU score the first two points, before Union rattled off seven straight to take a 7-2 lead. Union led 20-19, but again, could not hold the lead as the Lady Lions posted six straight points to take a 2 -1 lead in the match. The momentum was clearly on the side of FHU at this point as the Lady Lions jumped out to a 14-6 lead and then led 24-12, before taking game four 25-13. Union was led by Emilie Ogas with nine kills. Katie Adams added eight kills, while Heather Liebermand tallied seven kills. Adams recorded 28 assists and also led with four aces. Anna Sims led Union with seven blocks, while Ogas added five blocks. Freed-Hardeman was led by Fernanda Alves with 18 kills, followed by Sydney Rice with 11 and Crissandra Perez with 10 kills. Martha Ray tallied 44 assists, while Alves led with six blocks. Union entered the conference tournament as the No. 2 seed. With the loss having no affect on Union’s rankings going into the Conference tournament.

Senior Night Photos

Freed Union Match—Senior Night. Look at that Crowd!

Seniors on Senior Night with their gifts—Amanda Coyle, CJ Neathamer, and Emilie Ogas

The Union Team with the Seniors and their gifts

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