Guilford College Volleyball Season Review

The Guilford College volleyball team closed 2017 with a 12-11 record. The Quakers finished 5-6 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference games and tied for sixth place in the conference.

GC began the year with a 5-2 mark entering league play. The Quakers began ODAC play with a 3-1 at Lynchburg on Sept. 13. Following a convincing 3-1 victory over visiting Greensboro on Oct. 12, Guilford improved to 11-6–its best mark of the year.

The team, however, then suffered a setback when Tina Eucker was sidelined with an injury. Without their All-ODAC setter, GC dropped its next four matches before closing regular season play with a 3-0 Senior Night win over Hollins. Senior Jessica Sheek put down a match-best eight kills and classmates Casey Davis and Heather Crawford both added seven put-aways in Guilford’s Senior Night victory. The three seniors combined to score 29 of the Quakers’ 54 points on the night. Crawford had just one error in 11 attacks for a match-best .545 hitting percentage and Sheek hit .375 with five blocks. Davis shared team-high honors with 10 digs, and became the ninth Quaker in school history to reach the 1,000-career digs plateau.

Guilford was seeded seventh for the ODAC Tournament and faced #2 Washington & Lee in the first round. Despite Eucker’s return, the Generals prevailed, 3-0, to end GC’s season.
Following season’s end, Sophomores Eucker and Christian Ritter both received Third-Team All-ODAC volleyball recognition as selected by the league’s head coaches. It was the first time since 2011 the Quakers placed two students on the all-league team.

Eucker, a 5-7 setter, led the conference and ranks 49th in NCAA Division III with a school-record 9.65 assists per set. She also stands fourth in the league with 0.48 service aces per set. Her 0.968 serve percentage led the team and ranks ninth in school history. Eucker also contributed 2.13 digs and 0.25 blocks per set.

Ritter, a 5-5 outside hitter, played in all 23 matches for the Quakers and led the team in kills (208); total attacks (660); service aces (39); digs (310); and digs per set (3.73). She ranked second on the team in service aces per set (0.47) and points (250.5). Her 2.51 kills per set stood third on the team. Ritter’s 39 service aces led the team while her 0.47 aces per set average ranks seventh in the ODAC. She stands among the ODAC’s top-20 leaders in digs, digs per set, total attacks, and points.

Sophomore Morgan Tompkins was second on the team with 2.53 kills per set. Jasmine Gaines and Michaela Allred, also sophomores, recorded 1.38 and 1.11 kills per set respectively. Freshman McKinley Durham was second on the team in services aces with 34.

The Quakers and Head Coach Emily Gann could return up to 14 letter winners in 2018.