GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The last time the Randolph WildCats women's volleyball team beat Guilford in Greensboro, most of the current first-year players hadn't even been born, Beyoncé and Rihanna were battling for global supremacy with "Irreplaceable" and "Umbrella," and the Apple iPhone was less than a year old. On Wednesday night, that streak was broken as the 'Cats closed out a five-set thriller, 25-21, 14-25, 26-24, 22-25, and 15-13.
Randolph wasted little time making its presence felt, using a late push to take the opening set, 25-21. The WildCats turned a 21-20 advantage into a four-point run to close the set, with
Cameron Cox delivering back-to-back service aces before a Guilford error ended the set.
After Guilford answered in the second set, the 'Cats found themselves in another back-and-forth battle in the third. The Quakers held a 23-19 lead, but Randolph refused to go away. Four straight points, including a kill from
Kelsey Bowler, allowed Randolph to even things up at 23-23. Guilford reached set point at 24-23, only for Bowler to answer again before another Guilford error and a Bowler kill gave Randolph the 26-24 comeback win.
Battling close, it was Guilford who found themselves on the winning end of the fourth set, kicking the bucket further down the road into the fifth set.
The WildCats looked to be fading early as Guilford opened a 9-5 lead, but they quickly responded with one of their biggest runs of the night. Randolph scored seven straight points to turn the four-point deficit into a 12-9 advantage. The run included a service ace from
Carly Schopp and three Guilford attack errors as the 'Cats completely flipped the momentum. The Quakers battled back to tie the set at 13-13, but Randolph had the final answer. A Guilford service error put the WildCats on match point before
Makayla Waiters and
Alyssa Thompson combined for the match-clinching block, locking up the historic road win.
Bowler led all Randolph attackers with 20 kills, while
Destanie Ambers added 12 kills and 18 digs. Schopp commanded the offense with a career-high 43 assists and added 10 digs, while
McKayla Padgett anchored the back row with 19 digs. Waiters added six kills and three blocks, while Cox contributed three service aces. As a team, Randolph finished with 50 kills, 12 aces, six blocks and 70 digs in a match that featured 35 ties and 21 lead changes.
With the win, Randolph improves to 10-5 on the year and 2-1 in the ODAC. Additionally, Coach
Kara Matthews set a new career milestone with 134 victories, surpassing former coach Becky Hawkins (1979-86, 1995-97) as the winningest coach in program history.Â
The WildCats look to continue the momentum on Saturday, Oct. 3, when they host Batten at Giles Gymnasium. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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