Oct. 23, 2007

Rome, Ga. - Led by the spirited play of Kasi Runion, Maggie Parker, Kayla Rollins and Kate Puckett, the Shorter squad downed rival Berry in a heated Southern States Athletic Conference match at the Winthrop-King Center.

It was Shorter's first victory over its cross-town foes since the 2003 season, when both teams were playing their first year of varsity volleyball.

Playing in front of a vocal crowd, the teams pushed each other to the limit, trading clutch plays throughout the five-game match. The Lady Hawks ultimately claimed the victory with an intense three-point win in Game 5 to take the match by scores of 17-30, 30-27, 30-23, 29-31, 15-12.

The victory pushed Shorter to 15-12 overall and 5-5 in the conference. Berry, which entered the night all alone in second place in the SSAC, fell to 15-12, 8-3.

Runion finished with 14 kills and four blocks to pace Shorter. Maggie Parker also had 14 kills, and Jenny Mealer added seven.

Kristy Walker finished with a match-high 47 assists and 12 digs. Kayla Rollins added 13 digs for the Lady Hawks, who've now won three of their past four matches that have gone five games after opening the season 0-4 in matches that went that distance.

For Berry, Shawn Carroll finished with a team-high 26 digs, and Leah Thomson had four aces and 15 digs. Meghan Francis added 20 kills, and Megan Cheatam had 11 digs and a team-high 27 assists.

"Our team's biggest problem lately is that we just don't execute our game plan," said Berry coach Brianne Smedley. "And that was true again tonight."

Shorter is at Columbia on Friday; Berry hosts Reinhardt next Tuesday.