ATLANTA – LOVB Salt Lake was poised to send the match to a fourth set.
But Kelsey Cook was having none of it. The three-time Olympic outside hitter had four of her six kills in LOVB Atlanta's final nine points Friday night as her team came away with a 25-22, 25-22, 25-20 victory.
Video Recap | Match Stats | LOVB Salt Lake Roster | LOVB Atlanta Roster
Atlanta (3-1) more or less had the upper hand throughout the first two sets but trailed 18-15 in the third when coach Paulo Coco called time.
Talk about a great response: His team went on a 6-0 run that included three kills by Kelsey and two by Danielle Cuttino.
After Salt Lake (2-3) pulled to 21-20, Magda Jehlárová and Kelsey had kills. Salt Lake called time but it didn't help because Tessa Grubbs ended it with a kill and then a big block on Dani Drews.
Player of the match McKenzie Adams led Atlanta with 13 kills – six in the third set – hitting .647 after having two errors in 17 attacks. She added an ace, a block and 13 digs.
"In that third set we minimized our errors and took care of the ball," McKenzie said.
Tessa had 10 kills, an ace, three blocks and six digs. Magda had nine kills in 14 errorless attacks and was particularly effective on quicks out of the middle. Danielle had seven kills with one error in 16 swings to hit .375 and had a block. Kelsey ended with six kills, three digs, a block and an assist. Tia Jimerson had five kills, a block, two digs and two assists.
Rachel Fairbanks handled most of the setting duties and had 32 assists to go with a kill, an ace and three digs. Madi Bugg also set and had 11 assists and four digs. Their team hit .367.
"We played sometimes good, sometimes with mistakes, but it was a good win. I think we served well and played good on defense and in transition but we can have better connection in our side-out system and our hitting system," coach Paulo Coco said.
Dani Drews led Salt Lake with 11 kills, hitting .333, and added an ace, a block, six digs and two assists. Fellow outside Roni Jones-Perry had eight kills, an ace, a block and four digs. Skylar Fields added seven kills and a dig.
Olympic middle Haleigh Washington made her League One Volleyball debut when she entered the match in the second set. She finished with three kills and one error in four attacks, a block and a dig.
"It was fun," Haleigh said. "I was like wow, it's almost February and I'm just getting on the court. It was good and it was good to be back out there. I'm excited to play with these girls."
Mary Lake got her first start at libero and looked every bit like she did when she last played six years ago as an All-American at BYU. She had 12 digs, some spectacular, and four assists.
"I never thought I would be on a team again," Mary said. "I'm loving every minute of it."
Setter Jordyn Poulter had 24 assists, an ace and seven digs. Her team hit .257.
The same teams met in the first League One Volleyball match January 8 and Salt Lake won 25-22, 27-25, 21-25, 25-21. Jones-Perry had 23 kills and Heidy Casanova 22 in that one. Cuttino led Atlanta with 13 kills.
There are two more matches Saturday, both in the Gateway Center Arena, as LOVB Austin (2-2) faces Salt Lake at 4:30 Eastern, followed by LOVB Omaha (3-1) taking on Atlanta. Both matches can be seen on LOVB Live and the Women's Sports Network via Samsung TV Plus.
"Unfortunately we weren't able to crack the code," Salt Lake coach Tama Miyashiro said. "It was a tough night for us but I'm confident in our group that we're going to bounce back. And that's just another part of the league. You have to bounce back. We play at 4:30 tomorrow."
