College Volleyball Final – Guilford 3, Shenandoah 0

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Christian Ritter hit .455 with 10 kills and 14 digs in Guilford College’s 3-0 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) volleyball win over visiting Shenandoah University in Saturday’s regular-season finale.

The Quakers (16-9, 7-5 ODAC) staved off nine set points in the opening frame and pulled out their eighth win in 10 matches. Guilford equaled its most wins in a season since 2010 with the victory and earned the sixth seed for next week’s ODAC Tournament. The Quakers have a quarterfinal contest at third-seeded Washington and Lee University October 31.

Shenandoah (10-16, 4-8 ODAC) raced to a 6-0 lead in the opening set to prompt a Quakers’ timeout. The margin grew to 10-2 and 20-10 before Guilford started chipping away. An Emily Cheatwood kill gave the Hornets a 24-16 lead. A Ritter kill on the next point returned serve to Guilford and with Ritter serving, the Quakers reeled off eight straight points to tie the set at 24-24. Another Cheatwood putdown gave the Hornets another set point at 25-24, but the Quakers answered with a kills by Morgan Tompkins and Mackenzie Calton before a Shenandoah hitting error clinched the set for Guilford, 27-25.

The Hornets led for most of the second set as well, but never by more than three points. Ritter had two kills and Shenandoah committed two errors during a 7-2 run that put Guilford ahead, 20-18. The teams traded points from there on out before a Carson Evans putdown clinched the middle set for the Quakers, 25-22.

Guilford sprinted to a 12-1 lead in the clinching set and did not look back in a 25-14 win. The Quakers hit .300 as a team in the third and compared to Shenandoah’s -.163 hitting percentage.

Evans added nine kills and Calton finished with seven on .583 hitting for the Quakers. Tina Eucker had 31 assists and 10 digs. Cydney Scott shared match-high honors with 21 digs.

Caylin Harris’ nine kills led Shenandoah. Megan Hillyard contributed 28 assists and two service aces. Nicole Shannon picked up 21 digs.