Furman 3, The Citadel 2
Charleston, SC - Senior middle blocker Marina Daniel led The Citadel attack with 16 kills and freshman setter Emily Hill provided 48 assists but Furman came out on top, 3-2 (29-31, 30-27, 30-22, 19-30, 15-12), in Southern Conference volleyball action Saturday afternoon in McAlister Field House.
Daniel was followed by freshman outside hitter Rachel Sanders with 13 kills. Defensively, Daniel led The Citadel (3-21, 0-12 SoCon) with two solo blocks and two block assists, while senior outside hitter Stefanie Farris had 15 digs.
For Furman (9-12, 5-6 SoCon), junior outside hitter Whitney Purser had a match-high 22 kills. She was followed by sophomore outside hitter Chibuzo Agoucha with 19. Sophomore setter Courtney Stewardson provided 55 assists. Defensively freshman middle blocker Emily Harby had six total blocks and junior outside hitter Kim Tonkin had 16 digs.
Furman will face Chattanooga on Tuesday in Greenville. The Citadel will play Wofford Sunday at 2:00 pm in McAlister Field House.
Appalachian State 3, Chattanooga 0
BOONE, N.C. ? Senior Stefanie Panzer recorded a match-high 17 kills as Appalachian State University volleyball swept Chattanooga, 3-0 (30-24, 30-19, 30-21), Saturday at the Holmes Center to maintain sole possession of second place in the Southern Conference.
With the win, the Mountaineers move to 16-7 overall and 9-2 in the SoCon, extending their longest winning streak of the season to six matches. One of ASU’s two conference losses came in its previous meeting with UTC at Chattanooga. The Lady Mocs drop to 12-10 and 7-3 in conference play with the loss.
The Mountaineers once again were solid at the net as they recorded 12 total blocks and held the Lady Mocs to a .075 hitting percentage. Appalachian out-hit Chattanooga, 51 kills to 33, hitting .303 on the night.
Panzer (Mt. Gilead, N.C.) was the only player on either team to record double-digit kills while hitting a match-high .538. The 2004 SoCon Player of the Year added four block assists, two solo blocks and seven digs.
Senior Kali Rumberger (Spokane, Wash.) headed up the Appalachian defense with 16 digs. She also added three aces. Junior Chrissy Finch (Lake Zurich, Ill.) was solid all-around for ASU with seven kills and 13 digs.
Sophomore Lorelle Rau (Oakland Park, Fla.) recorded 42 set assists for the Mountaineers and added three kills, five block assists and a match-high four aces.
The Lady Mocs were led by Kelly Ramsey and Leslee Ball with seven kills apiece. Ramsey finished with a .353 hitting percentage. Lara Newberry and Kelsey Amundson recorded team-highs with 13 digs apiece.
ASU trailed UTC, 2-0 in game one, before taking a 7-6 lead off a Panzer kill. Panzer then served four-straight points, forcing a Chattanooga timeout while giving Appalachian an 11-8 lead. The Lady Mocs fought back to regain the lead at 15-14, extending it to 19-16. With the game tied at 23, ASU outscored UTC, 7-1 to take a 30-24 victory in game one.
Leading the match, 1-0, Appalachian jumped out to a quick 8-1 lead in game two. The Mountaineers led by as many as 15, before going to win game two, 30-19, for a 2-0 match-lead.
Down 7-6 in game three, Panzer recorded four-straight kills with two assists from Rau to force a Chattanooga timeout and give Appalachian a 10-7 lead. The Lady Mocs came back to pull within one at 18-17, but never regained the lead as the Mountaineers took the game, 30-21, and the match, 3-0.
The Mountaineers hit the road for five-straight SoCon matches, before heading home to closeout the season Nov. 11 and 12. Appalachian heads to Davidson, Wednesday, Oct. 26 to take on the Wildcats at 7 p.m.
Davidson 3, Western Carolina 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? The Davidson Wildcats Volleyball team gave their parents a thrilling performance on parent’s weekend, sweeping the season series over Western Carolina by bringing home a 3-2 win on Saturday afternoon in Belk Arena. The SoCon win for the Wildcats was their 6th as they moved to 6-4 and 10-14 overall on the season. Western Carolina dropped to 5-8 in SoCon play and 6-19 overall on the year.
"Every win in conference is important this late in the year and this one was a big one for our team," said head coach Tim Cowie.
Game scores were 30-17, 27-30, 20-30, 31-29, 15-13.
After falling behind 2-1 in the match, Davidson trailed 27-23 and was down to its last points. The Wildcats took a timeout to regroup, and regroup is what they did. The ?Cats charged back to tie the game up at 28-28 on kills by sophomore Kate Pierucci (Bakersfield, Calif.), junior Jenna Dykstra (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), and freshman Tierney Hodge (Gainesville, Fla.), along with a couple of attack errors by the Catamounts. Western Carolina regained the lead after a timeout, 29-28, but Davidson came right back and scored the next three points, ending the game on a kill by freshman middle blocker Kittery Neale (Gainesville, Fla.) for the 31-29 win.
Game five saw the Wildcats maintain a two-point lead throughout the game and behind the hitting of Pierucci, who had four of her 18 kills on the match in the game, the Wildcats secured the match with a hard fought 15-13 win.
Davidson took game one by hitting a match-high .410 for the 30-17 win. It was short lived though as Western Carolina earned wins in the next two games. In the second game, the Catamounts came back from a 16-12 deficit and Meredith Harmon gave Western Carolina the win hammer home two of the last three points on kills.
The Catamounts jumped out a 16-6 lead in game three as Heather Koontz served eight-straight points, including three service aces, and Western Carolina coasted to the 30-20 win.
Davidson placed four players in the books with double-digits in kills, while junior Liz Williamson (Austin, Texas) had a double-double with a match-high 22 kills and 10 digs. Freshman Alison Dwyer (Saline, Mich.) had a career match, earning career highs in kills (12), attempts (20), and hitting percentage (.500).
Western Carolina saw Ellie Talbot have a team-high 13 kills, along with 15 digs. Also having a double-double was Koontz with 11 kills and 11 digs.
Davidson will try for its seventh SoCon win on Sunday, Oct. 23 when they host Chattanooga at 2 p.m.
Georgia Southern 3, UNC Greensboro 1
Statesboro, Ga. -- The Georgia Southern volleyball team rallied from a first game loss to defeat the UNC Greensboro Spartans Saturday at Hanner Fieldhouse. The Eagles won the match 28-30, 30-18, 30-27, and 30-22.
Georgia Southern (15-8, 8-3) and UNC Greensboro (2-19, 1-10) battled back and forth throughout the first game with the lead never getting any higher than four for either team. The Spartans out hit the Eagles .317 to .163 in game one, making the difference with the Spartans winning 30-28. In the second game, the two teams played to a 9-9 tie before Georgia Southern went on a 16 to four run extending the Eagles lead to 25-13. The Eagles would hit a match high .500 in the second game and won 30-18. After the intermission, UNC Greensboro opened game three on an 11-5 run. The Eagles would bounce back evening the score at 11 and would eventually take game three 30-27. In the fourth and final game, Georgia Southern never looked back from a 10-4 lead and won the game 30-22 and the match three games to one.
The Mountaineers hit the road for five-straight SoCon matches, before heading home to closeout the season Nov. 11 and 12. Appalachian heads to Davidson, Wednesday, Oct. 26 to take on the Wildcats at 7 p.m.
Davidson 3, Western Carolina 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? The Davidson Wildcats Volleyball team gave their parents a thrilling performance on parent’s weekend, sweeping the season series over Western Carolina by bringing home a 3-2 win on Saturday afternoon in Belk Arena. The SoCon win for the Wildcats was their 6th as they moved to 6-4 and 10-14 overall on the season. Western Carolina dropped to 5-8 in SoCon play and
6-19 overall on the year.
"Every win in conference is important this late in the year and this one was a big one for our team," said head coach Tim Cowie.
Game scores were 30-17, 27-30, 20-30, 31-29, 15-13.
After falling behind 2-1 in the match, Davidson trailed 27-23 and was down to its last points. The Wildcats took a timeout to regroup, and regroup is what they did. The ?Cats charged back to tie the game up at 28-28 on kills by sophomore Kate Pierucci (Bakersfield, Calif.), junior Jenna Dykstra (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), and freshman Tierney Hodge (Gainesville, Fla.), along with a couple of attack errors by the Catamounts. Western Carolina regained the lead after a timeout, 29-28, but Davidson came right back and scored the next three points, ending the game on a kill by freshman middle blocker Kittery Neale (Gainesville, Fla.) for the 31-29 win.
Game five saw the Wildcats maintain a two-point lead throughout the game and behind the hitting of Pierucci, who had four of her 18 kills on the match in the game, the Wildcats secured the match with a hard fought 15-13 win.
Davidson took game one by hitting a match-high .410 for the 30-17 win. It was short lived though as Western Carolina earned wins in the next two games. In the second game, the Catamounts came back from a 16-12 deficit and Meredith Harmon gave Western Carolina the win hammer home two of the last three points on kills.
The Catamounts jumped out a 16-6 lead in game three as Heather Koontz served eight-straight points, including three service aces, and Western Carolina coasted to the 30-20 win.
Davidson placed four players in the books with double-digits in kills, while junior Liz Williamson (Austin, Texas) had a double-double with a match-high 22 kills and 10 digs. Freshman Alison Dwyer (Saline, Mich.) had a career match, earning career highs in kills (12), attempts (20), and hitting percentage (.500).
Western Carolina saw Ellie Talbot have a team-high 13 kills, along with 15 digs. Also having a double-double was Koontz with 11 kills and 11 digs.
Davidson will try for its seventh SoCon win on Sunday, Oct. 23 when they host Chattanooga at 2 p.m.
Georgia Southern 3, UNC Greensboro 1
Statesboro, Ga. -- The Georgia Southern volleyball team rallied from a first game loss to defeat the UNC Greensboro Spartans Saturday at Hanner Fieldhouse. The Eagles won the match 28-30, 30-18, 30-27, and 30-22.
Georgia Southern (15-8, 8-3) and UNC Greensboro (2-19, 1-10) battled back and forth throughout the first game with the lead never getting any higher than four for either team. The Spartans out hit the Eagles .317 to .163 in game one, making the difference with the Spartans winning 30-28. In the second game, the two teams played to a 9-9 tie before Georgia Southern went on a 16 to four run extending the Eagles lead to 25-13. The Eagles would hit a match high .500 in the second game and won 30-18. After the intermission, UNC Greensboro opened game three on an 11-5 run. The Eagles would bounce back evening the score at 11 and would eventually take game three 30-27. In the fourth and final game, Georgia Southern never looked back from a 10-4 lead and won the game 30-22 and the match three games to one.
Georgia Southern was led by three double-doubles in the match, including 20 kills, 13 digs and three blocks by sophomore Bailey Coleman, who celebrated her 19th birthday on Saturday. Senior Iulia Porumbescu led the match in kills and digs, recording 24 and 20 respectively. Senior Natalia Galantini recorded 32 assists, 16 digs and a season high, five kills. Junior Staci Anderson recorded 19 digs and freshman Mae Chabra finished the night with 21 assists. Rounding out offensively for the Eagles, freshman Christy Dowd recorded six kills and five assists, and senior Cristie Mitchell and sophomore Gorana Bacic each recorded two kills.
Defensively, the Eagles were led by junior Jennifer Charles who recorded five blocks. Charles also totaled nine kills and hit .375 for the match. Junior Jennifer Schenk finished the match with three blocks and two kills.
UNC Greensboro was led by Hilary Overby who recorded a double-double with 20 kills and 17 digs. Kaitlyn Nortz and Lauren Richards helped lead the Spartans finishing the match with 13 and 12 kills respectively.
"I am proud of our girls and how they have adapted to our new rotation," head Coach Kerry Messersmith said. "We started off a little slow in the first game but really picked it up well throughout the rest of the match. I was pleased with our play from every position."
Georgia Southern will host Elon Sunday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. at Hanner Fieldhouse. UNC Greensboro will host North Carolina A&T Tuesday Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. in Greensboro, N.C.
College of Charleston 3, Wofford 0
The College of Charleston defeated Wofford in volleyball action 3-0 (30-14, 30-17, 30-14) Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference play.
With the victory the Cougars move to 21-1 overall and 12-0 in the SoCon. The Terriers fall to 9-11 overall and 4-7 in the SoCon with the loss.
Tiffany Blum had a season-high 21 kills while hitting for a .528 average. Amanda Timmers finished the match with 12 kills of her own with Rebecca Wieters falling one kill short of reaching double-digits as she finished with nine.
Overall Blum, Annie Uthe, and Becca Shaw combined for 30 kills overall from the middle blocker position.
"Our three middles did another great job today of playing consistently at a high level," said head coach Sherry Dunbar. "The middles made it easy to play defense with their blocking and that sparked our energy on the court."
Wofford was led on offense by Katie Sobczyk who tallied eight kills on the day. Sobczyk also led the Terriers on defense recording 14 digs and one block.
Kaycie Carr led the Cougars in assists with 46 on the day. Marie Dobrenz added 20 digs from the libero position and Becca Shaw led the team in blocks with three.
"The win today was a total team effort," said Carr. "A lot of players came in off the bench and as a team we didn’t miss a beat."
The Cougars will hit the road for their next three matches as they will travel to Elon, Western Carolina and Chattanooga over the next week and a half. The Cougars next home match will be Nov. 4th when Appalachian State comes to town.
"We need to continue to play hard because Elon, Western (Carolina) and Chattanooga are all dangerous teams, especially at home," said Timmers.