Fury bested by Valkyries

The Columbus Fury were tripped up by the Orlando Valkyries on Friday evening, losing in straight sets (25-19, 25-15, 25-17) and dropping their second consecutive contest. Columbus had a difficult night penetrating the block of the Valkyries, tallying just 35 kills and amassing a .230 hitting percentage for the contest.

Set One

Riding the strength of 3,000-plus fans inside Nationwide Arena, the Fury began the match on the front foot jumping out to a 7-4 advantage. Columbus grew its advantage to 14-11 on the strength of key plays from Tori Stringer, Reagan Cooper, Asija O'Neal, and Megan Courtney Lush.

The dynamic duo of O'Neal and Cooper led the team with five and six kills respectively to open up the contest. Orlando battled back to tie the game at 15 points and didn't reliquish the lead, cruising to a 25-19 set one victory.

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Set Two

It was a difficult start to the second set as Columbus found itself down big early, trailing 15-5 before the media timeout. The Fury shrunk the Valkyrie advantage to as little as eight points as a key block from O'Neal kept the Orlando advantage at 22-14. Unfortunately the hosts couldn't build momentum and dropped the second set 25-25.

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Set Three

As has been the case in the last several contests the Fury emerged from the locker room following the intermission claiming an early lead. Columbus jumped out to a 5-4 lead following a block from Courtney-Lush. Orlando tied the match at 5-5 before recapturing the lead and wouldn't look back claiming the set 25-17 and the overall match 3-0.

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Standout Stats

Nikoleta Perović totaled four kills on 13 attacks and a block in her home debut with the Fury.

Kaitlyn Hord led the Fury with two of the six total blocks for the team.

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Up Next

The Fury will be back in action on Thursday, April 4th against Omaha at 8 p.m. in the Chi Health Center.

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