Strickland reaches milestone in ECU volleyball victory
Sep. 30—In just her third year as a Tiger, Emma Strickland recorded her 1,000th career kill while helping the East Central University volleyball team cruise to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-16) win over Northwestern Oklahoma State University Thursday night at the Kerr Activities Center.
ECU improved to 7-9 overall and 2-3 in GAC play while NWOSU dropped to 6-9 and 3-2.
"It feels good to see us play well and consistent two games in a row," said ECU head coach Danielle Essix. "We are earning a lot of points and I think these wins gave us the confidence we needed to put us where we need to be before heading to Arkansas next week."
Strickland was only four kills away from the milestone entering the match, notching the major achievement in the first set at the 14-12 mark to put ECU ahead of NWOSU for good. She then went way beyond 1,000 with a total of 16 kills on the night in the three-set match.
Led by the offensive attack from Strickland, ECU turned in their second-best clip of the season with a .312. Odalys Gonzalez contributed greatly with 13 kills while Angel Nahinu hit above .500 converting seven of her 11 attempts.
The Tigers out-killed the Rangers in every set for a 44-36 final edge.
Julia Kabala ran the offense with 36 assists, her most in a three-set match. In addition, she tallied seven digs and had five block assists. Ashleigh Miller had a big night at the net, collecting 12 of the team's 20 total blocks, a career-high for Miller.
ECU also held a 56-46 dig advantage over NWOSU with Sydney Roshek leading the match with 20. Brooke Sarahina added 12 while Kabala and Gonzalez helped cover the floor with seven apiece.
The ECU volleyball team will return to action when they hit the road to Arkansas next Thursday and Friday to face Arkansas-Monticello (6 p.m.) and Southern Arkansas University (4 p.m.).
