MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Martin Methodist Volleyball team turned in a valiant effort, but was eliminated from its first-ever Southern States Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship Friday afternoon at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
The RedHawks (9-18) entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed, but suffered three consecutive defeats in their round of pool play.
In the opener on Thursday, the RedHawks took on third-seeded Faulkner (Ala.) University in a rematch of two narrow defeats in the regular season. The RedHawks dropped the first set in a tightly-contested 25-23 affair and were never able to recover in the 3-0 defeat.
Friday's doubleheader saw the RedHawks take on second-seeded University of Mobile (Ala.) as the high-powered Rams pulled away for another straight-set victory.
In their final contest, the RedHawks took on conference rival Bethel (Tenn.) University, which pulled away for the 3-0 victory despite a late third-set rally. After falling behind 2-0, the RedHawks battled back to force a Lady Wildcat timeout after a RedHawk rally to tie the contest at 10-10.
In addition to making their first-ever SSAC conference tournament, the RedHawks also received a bit of hardware Thursday night at the conference's annual awards banquet.
Genesis Mejias earned First Team All-SSAC honors after one of the best attacking seasons in recent RedHawk history. Mejias recorded 211 kills on the year and committed just 54 errors for a 33.1 hitting percentage – good enough for third best overall in the SSAC. The junior had eight matches with double-digit kills in her first season in a RedHawk uniform.
Also in her first season as a RedHawk, Rosmerli Carrillo earned Second Team All-SSAC honors after leading the squad with 296 kills in 93 sets for a 3.2 kills per set average. Carrillo's 296 finishes ranked fifth-best in the conference and her 236 in-conference kills were second-best in the league.
Riley Balsmeyer was voted as the team's Champions of Character representative while Rya Wooten was honored for her successes in the classroom by earning a berth on the league's All-Academic Team.
