August 29, 2016 - The 14th ranked Panola College Fillies opened their season with a bang, knocking off 16th ranked Hill College in four sets (18-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-13) and then taking down #15 Missouri St. West Plains (26-24, 10-25, 28-26, and 25-23).
Several Fillies recorded double-digit kills against Hill, with freshman right side Jaqueline da Silva recording 14, and sophomore outsides Ana Oliveira and Victoria Baptista picking up 10 apiece. The freshman setting duo of Cayman Sutton and Kinly Carter recorded 25 assists apiece, and Victoria Baptista completed a double-double to lead the defense with 29 digs.
In their second match of the day, Panola bolstered a balanced attack against a very tough defense in Missouri State West Plains. Once again Jaqueline da Silva led with 12, and sophomore middle blocker Rachel Henderson and freshman right side Kaitlyn Adams added 8 kills apiece. Ana Olivera picked up her first double-double of the season with 10 kills and 10 digs respectively. Cayman Sutton dished out 27 assists and Kinly Carter added 21. Sophomore libero Morgan Currie anchored the defense with 27 digs while Victoria Baptista added 14 of her own.
The Panola College Fillies continued their winning ways on day two of the Ronda Shirley Invitational, taking down Temple College in 4 sets (25-16, 25-22, 16-25, 25-22) and sweeping NCTC (25-9, 25-18, 25-16).
Ana Oliveira paced the offense against Temple with 11 kills, and the combination of Rachel Henderson, Victoria Baptista, Jaqueline da Silva, and Kaitlyn Adams racked up 28 kills, each contributing 7. Kinly Carter and Cayman Sutton combined for 42 assists with (22) and (20) respectively. Libero Morgan Currie came up with 13 digs and freshman defensive specialist Camie Copeland chipped in 7 of her own.
The last match of the tournament proved to be the Fillies best defensive effort of the weekend, forcing NCTC to make many uncharacteristic hitting errors with aggressive blocking. Panola had a season high of 14 total blocks with Rachel Henderson leading the way with 3 total blocks and 3 kills. Ana Oliveira added to the action as well with 5 kills, 3 aces, and 2 blocks. Cayman Sutton and Kinly Carter combined for 15 assists and 10 digs.
The Panola College Fillies will return to action Monday, August 29th for their home opener against the NJCAA DIII Runner-Up, Brookhaven College. First serve will be at 6 pm in Arthur Johnson Gym.
Fillies Go 4-0 at Ronda Shirley Invitational
