Briones, Dukes Top Third-Seeded Towson 3-2 at CAA Tourney

Friday, November 21

Charleston, S.C.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

17-13

Towson

27-5

James Madison

Towson

Briones, Dukes Top Third-Seeded Towson 3-2 at CAA Tourney

11/21/2014 11:35:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Senior middle blocker Lizzy Briones (Siloam Springs, Ark./Siloam Springs) recorded her first double-double of the season and broke the James Madison career total blocks record to lead the sixth-seeded volleyball team to a gripping 3-2 (26-24, 25-22, 14-25, 22-25, 15-9) upset over third-seeded Towson in the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament on Friday night.

Briones, who entered the night needing 10 blocks to tie the all-time career record, instead recorded 15, including two solo, breaking her career-high by three total blocks and giving her 490 for her career. The old record stood at 485, held by Kate Fuchs, who played at JMU from 2001-04.

"I could not be more proud of Lizzy," Head Coach Lauren Steinbrecher said. "She has been a great teammate and an incredible competitor for her entire career. I think it wouldn't have felt right if she had graduated without earning that record."

In addition to her historic night at the net, Briones put down 12 kills on just 23 attacks (12-2-23, .435) to complete the double-double for the Dukes (17-13). Sophomore outside hitter Janey Goodman (Powhatan, Va./Powhatan) joined Briones in double figures, putting down 17 kills, tied for the match high.

The Dukes looked to be in trouble early in the first set, as Towson jumped out to leads of 4-1, 9-4 and eventually, 17-8. However, the Dukes turned the tables, scoring the set's next eight points, including a pair of kills from sophomore Kate Whitmire (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams), to cut the deficit to one at 17-16.

The Tigers (27-5) would take another lead at 20-18, but four straight JMU points started a 6-2 run that made it 24-22 in favor of JMU. Towson would tie things up at 24-24, but a kill from senior middle blocker Kelly Maguire (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) and a service ace from junior Sarah Patterson (Roanoke, Va./Hidden Valley) completed the comeback with a 26-24 JMU win.

In the second set, it was the Dukes who struck first, as a 5-0 JMU run, including four consecutive blocks in which Briones was involved, made the lead 7-3. JMU would stretch the lead to as much as seven, but the Tigers slowly whittled away at the deficit, trailing by just two at 21-19. Three straight kills from Whitmire and Goodman put the Dukes up 24-19, however, and JMU was able to hold off the charge to take the second set, 25-22.

After the break, Towson controlled the third set from start to finish. Three separate runs of four or more consecutive points put the Dukes in a big hole early and, despite cutting the lead to four at 15-11, the Tigers used a 10-3 run to earn a 25-14 win.

Towson jumped out early again in the fourth set, winning the first four points en route to an 8-3 lead and never giving up the advantage. JMU did not go down easy, using a 5-2 run to cut the lead to 19-17 and taking four straight points on Towson's set point to make it 24-22, but the Tigers were able to get a final kill and even the match with a 25-22 win.

JMU produced the first points of the decisive fifth set count, storming out to a 5-1 lead to put Towson in a hole early and never relinquishing the lead. The Tigers chipped away at the lead, eventually cutting it to 8-7, but five straight points on three kills and two blocks put things out of reach at 13-7. Kills from senior outside hitter Martha Stewart (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) and junior outside hitter Meghan Niski (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) closed things out at 15-9 to complete the upset.

"We were very resilient tonight," Steinbrecher said. "I thought we did a really good job controlling some of Towson's really strong attackers and finding ways to score when we needed to at the end."

The Dukes had an outstanding night defensively as they held Towson, which entered the match with the highest attack percentage in the CAA, to a .168 attack percentage and racking up a staggering 20.0 team blocks, the highest single-match total in program history. Aside from Briones' record-setting evening, Goodman just missed a double-double with nine blocks, while Niski and Maguire had six and five, respectively.

On the back line, freshman libero Taylor Austin (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) led the way, racking up a match-high 17 digs, while Niski picked up 13 on her own. Patterson posted 51 assists on the evening, her fourth match with 50 or more, to go with eight digs.

With the win, the Dukes advance to tomorrow's CAA semifinals, where they will take on second-seeded Hofstra at 4 p.m. for a spot in Sunday's championship. Top-seeded College of Charleston will face UNCW in Saturday's other semifinal.