Nov. 11, 2006
Box Score
Courtesy James Madison Sports Information
HARRISONBURG, Va., Nov. 10, 2006 - Senior Allyson Halls (Columbus, Ohio/Olentangy) hit .667 with 16 kills and just two errors on 21 attempts to lead James Madison University to a 3-0 sweep of George Mason University in a Colonial Athletic Association volleyball match on Friday night in Sinclair Gymnasium.
JMU (19-8, 13-5 CAA) defeated GMU (7-17, 4-14 CAA) by game scores of 30-16, 30-22, and 30-25. The Dukes clinched at least a share of second place in the CAA. Towson (21-8, 12-5) can tie JMU in the standings with a win over William and Mary Saturday. However, the Dukes hold the tiebreaker over the Tigers thanks to a better overall games winning percentage in the conference.
JMU cruised to easy wins in each of the first two games. In game one, Halls was a perfect 7-for-7 on attack attempts while JMU hit .440 as a team. Game two was a balanced team effort as four players had at least three kills and four players had at least three digs in the game.
Mason kept it close in the third game as the teams were tied nine times and exchanged six lead changes. It was tied at 18-18 when the Dukes took the lead for good on a Michelle Johnson (Los Gatos, Calif./Los Gatos) kill. Leading 20-19, JMU put together a 7-1 run to take a commanding 28-21 lead and went on to win 30-25. Halls and senior Bayli Stillwell (Steamboat Springs, Colo./Steamboat Springs) combined to hit .500 with 10 kills.
In addition to her 16 kills and .667 attack percentage, Halls had three aces, three digs, and two blocks. Stillwell hit .353 with nine kills and 13 digs, including 10 in the third game. Senior Hanna Porterfield (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) had eight kills and five blocks. Sophomore setter Lauren Miles (Tampa, Fla./Tampa) had 41 assists and eight digs. She climbed from fifth to third on the JMU season assists leader board with 1,298. Junior libero Jena Pierson (San Antonio, Texas/James Madison) had 15 digs.
GMU was led by junior Jaqueline Kohler (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Expoente) with 11 kills and five digs. Senior Chantal Bodkin-Clarke (Trinidad/St. Francois Girls College) added seven kills and five blocks. Freshman setter Katie Corcoran (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) accumulated 30 assists and six digs.
The 2006 CAA Championship will begin on Friday, Nov. 17 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. The championship match is set for Sunday, Nov. 19. JMU will be the #2 seed in the tournament and will open on Saturday with the winner of #3 versus #6.
