Isabella Thurston (6) sets up the ball for a teammate during the Knights’ season finale at Harris Court on Tuesday night.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Maddison Larrimore (8) spikes the ball while two CIU players attempt to block it during the first set of Tuesday’s matchup between St. Andrews and the Rams.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Isabella Thurston (6) serves the ball.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
The Knights huddle up before the start of their season finale on Tuesday night.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews Knights women’s volleyball team wrapped up their 2024 season with a sweep at the hands of conference rival Columbia International University (CIU) on Tuesday night at Harris Court in Laurinburg. St. Andrews finishes the season without a win, going 0-28 (0-19 against conference opponents) while the Rams improve to 28-2 (18-1 vs AAC teams) on the season with the victory. CIU also swept the Knights in Columbia back in early October.
Tuesday’s matchup had scores of 25-10, 25-12 and 25-6 over the three sets of action. St. Andrews had fewer total kills (9-36), more total errors (18-9) and a worse hitting percentage in every set of the game than the Rams.
Maddison Larrimore had the most kills on the team with five and also added three digs in the defeat. Isabella Thurston paced the Knights in assists by dishing out four while also contributing two digs. Bailey Zivitski had seven digs to lead the team while Kayden Pate wasn’t far behind with six of her own.
The team finishes the season averaging 6.78 kills per set, 6.21 assists per set, 1.07 blocks per set, 0.99 service aces per set and 13.58 digs per set over their 28 games (86 sets). Their hitting percentage for the season was .002.
Larrimore had a total of 148 kills to lead the Knights for the season with Jade Alvarez adding 130 of her own. Mercedes Portalatin had 235 assists to pace the team for the season by a wide margin (the next closest was Thurston’s 108).
Zivitski led the team in serving aces and digs for the season with 18 and 351, respectively. Larrimore was second on the team in those two categories with 14 serving aces and 173 digs in 2024.
The Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) tournament will take place from Thursday, Nov. 14 through Saturday, Nov. 16 at the MeadowView Marriott Convention Center & Conference Resort in Kingsport, Tennessee. It will be a 10-team, single elimination tournament. If you want to follow the tournament more closely you can do so on the official AAC website here: Appalachian Athletic Conference.