Richmond, Ky. – For the second straight weekend, the Eastern Kentucky volleyball team came out of a regular season tournament with a championship. One week removed from winning the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational, the Colonels cruised to a 3-0 mark at their own event, the Nike/Comfort Suites Classic, to claim the trophy and push their win streak to eight matches.

Wins weren't the only thing going for the Colonels (8-1) on Saturday, as Lesley Aldridge reached 1,000 career kills in the team's 3-0 win over Evansville, making her just the sixth player in school history to register 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills in a career.

With the tournament title on the line, Aldridge came up with a 21-kill, 26-dig effort (her third 20-20 double-double of the year), to give Eastern the sweep over UE. As was the case in Pittsburgh, Pa. last week, she once again walked away with the tournament's most-valuable-player award.

Aldridge was joined on the all-tournament team by fellow Colonels Kelly Jennings and Brittany Nobilio. Jennings, a sophomore setter, engineered the EKU attack all weekend long, closing the tournament with 50 assists and 12 digs in the 3-0 win over Evansville. Nobilio, Eastern's freshman libero, anchored the defense as usual, averaging 4.5 digs over the team's three wins.

The Colonels return to action next weekend, when they head to Starksville, Miss., for the Mississippi State/Microtel Classic (Sept. 17-18).

EKU 3, Lipscomb 0
(30-8, 30-19, 30-12)

Eastern hit a season-high .361 en route to a 3-0 sweep over the Lady Bisons. The Colonels surrendered just 40 points over the three-game match, holding Lipscomb to just eight points in game one.

EKU hit a blistering .500 from the floor en route to a 30-8 win in the first game. Aldridge accounted for 10 of the Colonels' 15 kills and contributed to the team's season-high hitting percentage by posting an .833 mark (10 kills, no errors on 12 attempts). She went on to finish the match with 20 kills and no errors off 32 swings for a career-best .625 hitting percentage.

Junior Liz Guard chipped in nine kills in the win off a .438 percentage. Aldridge led the team with 13 digs, giving her seven double-doubles on the year, and was followed by nine a piece from both Nobilio and sophomore Jessica Sabath.

The Colonels tallied eight total blocks as a team, with six coming from sophomore Kasha Brozek (two solos, four assists). EKU's front and back lines contributed to the Lady Bisons hitting a negative-.030 for the match.

EKU 3, Evansville 0
(30-24, 20-26, 30-25)

The final matchup of the tournament proved to be the title bout, as both teams entered the contests with 2-0 records for the weekend and a shot at the championship. The Colonel offense, however, proved to be too much for the Purple Aces, setting the tone early on with 23 kills in first game then refusing to let up.

EKU followed with 21 kills in game two, helping them pull out a back-and-forth contest by a 30-26 final. The Colonels came down a bit in the third game (14 kills and a .170 hitting percentage), but still managed to complete the sweep.

Freshman Amy Arlinghaus chipped in 11 kills off the bench, second only to Aldridge's match-high 21. Four Colonels totaled 10-or-more digs, led again by Aldridge with 26. Nobilio followed with 18, while Jennings and Sabath chipped in 12 and 11, respectively.



NIKE/Comfort Suites Classic (Richmond, Ky.)
Friday, Sept. 10
Evansville def. Lipscomb; 3-0
EKU def. ETSU; 3-1

Saturday, Sept. 1
Evansville def. ETSU; 3-2
EKU def. Lipscomb; 3-0
ETSU def. Lipscomb; 3-0
EKU def. Evansville; 3-0

Team Finishes
EKU 3-0
Evansville 2-1
East Tennessee 1-2
Lipscomb 0-3

All-Tournament Team
Kelly Jennings, EKU
Brittany Nobilio, EKU
Megan Spurlock, UE
Sarah Treadway, UE
Callie Kiselich, ETSU
Lindsey Rutherford, LIP

Most Valuable Player
Leslie Aldridge, EKU