GREENVILLE, South Carolina - Furman outblocked Wofford 10.0 to 6.0, but the Terriers found a way to win, defeating the Paladins 3-1 (30-28, 26-30, 30-25, 30-26) in Southern Conference volleyball action Tuesday night in Alley Gym.
After trailing 20-15 in game one, the Lady Paladins rallied to within one, 29-28, on a Kerry Wooten kill, but a kill by Wofford’s Brittany Thompson gave the Terriers the 30-28 victory. Game two saw Furman fall behind 12-9 early, but a Chibuzo Aguocha kill tied the game at 21. The Lady Paladins took their first lead, 26-25, on another Aguocha kill, and stretched their lead to two on a kill by Emily Harby. An error by Christal Carey gave Furman the 30-26 game victory.
The Furman offense stalled in the third game, as the Lady Paladins hit .118 to the Terriers’ .231 and were outdug 14 to 9. Wofford picked up the 30-25 win to pull ahead 2-1 in the match. Game four featured four ties, including one at 23, when the Terriers went on a 3-1 run to pull ahead 26-24. A 4-2 Wofford run sealed the game and match with a 30-26 game four victory.
Furman’s offensive effort was led on the night by junior Whitney Purser, who scored 19 kills with a .389 attack percentage. Chibuzo Aguocha added 15 kills, while Ally Hock contributed 14 and Kerry Wooten totaled 12. Furmnan’s net defense was also paced by Purser, who tallied one block solo and four block assists in the loss.
Wofford was paced on the night by Brittany Thompson, who racked up 24 kills with a .429 attack percentage. Christal Carey added 17 kills while Katie Sobozyk contributed 10. Thompson added 14 digs, while Carey and Shana Glenn each totaled 11.
With the win the Terriers improved to 9-8 overall and 4-4 in the Southern Conference, while Furman fell to 7-11 overall and 3-5 in league play. The Lady Paladins will host Appalachian State Saturday at 2 p.m. in Alley Gym.
College of Charleston 3, UNC Greensboro 0
The College of Charleston volleyball team defeated the Spartans of UNC Greensboro 3-0 (30-23, 30-14, 30-16) Tuesday night at the John Kresse Arena to improve their overall record to 17-1 and their Southern Conference record to a league-best 9-0. The Cougars have now won nine straight matches, a streak that began with a 3-0 defeat of the South Carolina Gamecocks.
UNC Greensboro falls to 2-16 overall and 1-7 in the SoCon. The Cougars will travel south to take on the Eagles of Georgia Southern on Oct. 14th.
"I wasn’t happy with our performance in game one of the match, but I thought we really picked up our energy level and our pace to in the second and third," said head coach Sherry Dunbar. "The next two days we will have two good days of practice to prepare for Georgia Southern."
Sophomore Tiffany Blum led the Cougars on offense with 11 kills hitting for .500 in the match. Senior Rebecca Wieters also reached double-digit kills as she notched ten on the evening. Kaycie Carr led the team in assists with 35 and also in digs with 15.
Hilary Overby led the Spartans in kills with 12 to lead all players in the match. However the Spartan with the second-most kills was Adrian Hicks who recorded only five in the match. Libero Alysia Rosvold led the Spartans in digs with 14.
Georgia Southern 3, Davidson 1
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Despite taking a 1-0 lead in the match, the Davidson Wildcats Volleyball team couldn’t hold on to the lead, falling to Georgia Southern by the count of 3-1 on Tuesday, Oct. 11. Davidson dropped to 4-3 overall in the SoCon and 8-13 overall on the season. The Eagles moved to 6-1 in SoCon play and 13-5 overall.
Game scores were 30-26, 30-32, 22-30, 28-30.
After Georgia Southern opened the match with a 13-7 lead in game one, Davidson, who out-hit the Eagles .273 to .235 in the game, chipped away and later took a 23-22 lead on back-to-back service aces from junior Lisa Cuellar (Millbrae, Calif.). The Wildcats later pushed their lead out to three, 27-24, on kill from freshman Alison Dwyer (Saline, Mich.) and closed out game one with a 30-26 victory.
In the second game, Davidson led throughout the majority of the contest until the Eagles took a 24-23 lead on a Cristie Mitchell kill. The two teams would continue to exchange points, but the Eagles capitalized on some late attack errors by the Wildcats and tied things up with a 32-30 win.
Georgia Southern took advantage of out-hitting Davidson in the third and fourth games to secure the match with wins in each game.
Junior Liz Williamson (Austin, Texas) led Davidson with 26 kills, her fourth match of the season with 20 or more kills. Fellow junior Jenna Dykstra (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) had her third 50 assist match of the year, 12th of her career, and sophomore Kate Pierucci (Bakersfield, Calif.) recorded her seventh double-double with 14 kills and a season-high 20 digs.
Davidson will try to get back on the winning ways this weekend when they travel to play Wofford on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. and Furman on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m.
East Tennessee State 3, Western Carolina 0
Cullowhee, N.C. - The Western Carolina Catamount volleyball team struggled to get the offense rolling Tuesday night, falling in straight sets, 3-0 (30-21, 30-24, 30-18) to the East Tennessee State Buccaneers in the first non-conference meeting between the two schools since ETSU left the Southern Conference.
Western was led on the night by senior Ellie Talbot with eight kills and nine digs. Sophomore Meredith Harmon killed seven, while junior Heather Koontz tallied six and five digs. Koontz’ classmate, setter Meghan Boyle, dished out a match-high 25 assists while Kate Willard recorded another match-best with 12 digs.
The Catamounts were out-blocked at the net, 6-2, by the Bucs. Sophomore Danielle Spitzer recorded one solo and one block assist for Western, with Koontz providing the only other assist for the Cats.
Two Bucs hit over .400 in the match as junior Jennifer Sartor killed 17 with just three errors on a .483 attack percentage, while sophomore Callie Kiselich missed double-figures by one, finishing with nine kills and eight digs. Junior Brittany Kessel led ETSU with the only double-double of the night, dishing out 17 assists and digging 10.
The win for East Tennessee State was their eighth-straight to improve to 14-5 overall on the season. Western, who had been victorious in three of its last five, including consecutive five-game home wins on back-to-back Tuesdays, dropped to 5-15 overall.
The Catamounts return to action in a huge weekend home stand this Saturday and Sunday in Cullowhee. Western hosts Elon in historic Reid Gymnasium on Saturday evening at 7:00 pm, with the UNC Greensboro Spartans calling on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm in the Ramsey Center. WCU will try and snap a two-game losing skid to the Phoenix, while it looks to capitalize on recent success against the Spartans. The Catamounts have beaten UNCG in 14-consecutive meetings, including a 3-0 victory in Cullowhee last October.