Two matches, two wins, and one player who decided both of them. Cumberlands beat #9 Mount Vernon Nazarene in five sets Saturday morning, then closed out Marian in four that afternoon. Brynnley Bryant led the team in kills in both. The Patriots are 9-1.
Morning: a rematch that went the distance over #9 Mount Vernon Nazarene
Cumberlands had already beaten this team 3-0 back on August 15th at the Keiser gold bracket. This one was nothing like that. The Patriots won the first two sets, 25-19 and 25-21, then watched Mount Vernon Nazarene claw back to tie it at two apiece, 25-23 and 26-24. Cumberlands closed it out in the fifth, 15-8.
Bryant had the best match of her season by a wide margin: 24 kills on a .310 hitting percentage, 14 digs, and 27.5 points. Alana Shiery was the most efficient hitter on the floor at .474, and Savanah Jolly ran the offense as usual, 52 of the team’s 66 assists.
Afternoon: Marian pushes it to four, Cumberlands finishes it
The second match went four sets: 25-17, 19-25, 25-22, 27-25, the last one needing extra points to close.
Bryant did it again. 18 kills, a .289 hitting percentage, 9 digs, and a team-high 18.5 points, backing up the morning’s big performance with another one. Sara Zampedri’s night ran the other direction, a heavier digging load than scoring one, 18 digs against 13 kills. Cumberlands hit .217 as a team to Marian’s .203, a close edge that mattered over four sets.
The thread
Bryant carried both matches today. That’s worth naming plainly rather than treating as routine: 24 kills in the morning, 18 in the afternoon, both as the team’s leading scorer. Whether that’s a one-day peak or the start of a stretch is the thing to watch heading into the rest of the season.
Our take
Neither win today was clean. Both matches went at least four sets, and the morning one needed all five after Cumberlands let a 2-0 lead slip away. But a team that can lose a two-set cushion and still finish the job, twice in one day, is showing something about its composure. Cumberlands is 9-1.
The numbers
| vs #9 Mount Vernon Nazarene | vs Marian | |
|---|---|---|
| Result | W 3-2 (25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 24-26, 15-8) | W 3-1 (25-17, 19-25, 25-22, 27-25) |
| Team hitting % | .230 | .217 |
| Bryant | 24 K, .310, 27.5 pts | 18 K, .289, 18.5 pts |
| Jolly assists | 52 of 66 | not confirmed |
Cumberlands is 9-1 on the season.