Appalachian State 3, UNC Greensboro 1
GREENSBORO, NC ? Brittany Zahn and Dianna Thomas combined for 37 kills to lead Appalachian State to a 3-1 victory over UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference women’s volleyball action Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gym.
Zahn posted a match-high 21 kills to run the Mountaineers (19-7, 12-2 SoCon) winning streak to nine straight. Thomas added 16 kills, while Lorelle Rau doled out 53 assists and Kali Rumberger had a match-leading 20 digs.
Junior Hilary Overby led UNCG (3-20, 1-11 SoCon) with 11 kills, while freshman Kaitlyn Nortz put away 10 kills. Sophomore Ashley Smith had a team-high 16 digs, while senior Adrian Hicks dished out 39 assists. Nortz and sophomore Lauren Keiser came up with six and five blocks respectively.
UNCG had its sights set on pulling an upset over the second place Mountaineers. The Spartans played the Mountaineers straight up for most of game one. The score remained tied 19-19 when ASU rattled of nine straight points to take a commanding 28-19 lead. UNCG answered back with five straight points of its own but it proved to be too late in dropping game one 30-25.
The Spartans started fast in game two by taking an 11-8 lead. Nortz extended the lead to 18-14 on a kill moments later, but ASU ran off four straight to tie the score at 18-18 on a kill by Amy Lewis. A Spartan kill by freshman Liz Benzschawel snapped the tie and UNCG never gave the lead back in a 30-26 win. Nortz would cap off the game two win with a kill.
After the intermission, the Mountaineers gained an early 8-3 lead on back-to-back service aces by Rau in game three. ASU controlled play throughout and extended its lead to as much as 10 points, 26-16, before closing out the game 30-22.
Game four saw the Spartans grab a 6-2 early lead before ASU tied it up at 8-8. The game would feature seven more ties with the last being at 21-21. Two straight Zaun kills put the Mountaineers up 23-21, which led to Rebecca Sorensen’s lone kill of the match that clinched the 30-24 game four win and a hard fought 3-1 road victory over the Spartans.
ASU sweeps the season series with UNCG and now owns a 14-13 advantage in the all-time head-to-head series.
UNCG returns to action tomorrow when the Spartans host SoCon rival Davidson for a 2 pm contest at Fleming Gym. Meanwhile, Appalachian State will visit College of Charleston in a match-up of the top two teams in the SoCon. The match is scheduled for Friday, November 4 at 7 pm in Charleston, SC.
College of Charleston 3, Western Carolina 0
The College of Charleston defeated Western Carolina 3-0 (30-19, 30-17, 30-16) Saturday at Reid Gym to stay perfect on the season in Southern Conference volleyball play.
The win gives the Cougars a 23-1 overall record, and a 14-0 record in the SoCon. With the loss the Catamounts fall to an overall record of 6-20, and a record of 5-9 in the SoCon.
Senior Rebecca Wieters led all players in the match with 13 kill on the night. Fellow senior Amanda Timmers was a close second with 12 kills and sophomore Annie Uthe reached 10 kills giving the Cougars three players with double-digit kills.
WCU was led on offense by Krista Neumann who tallied ten kills in the match. Meredith Harmon was second on the team with seven kills on the night.
The Cougars will travel west to Tennessee to face the Mocs of Chattanooga on Sunday at 1 p.m. After Sunday's match at Chattanooga the Cougars will have three straight home matches against SoCon foes Appalachian State on Nov. 4th, Davidson on Nov. 5th, and Georgia Southern and Nov. 11th.
Georgia Southern 3, Furman 0
GREENVILLE, South Carolina - Saturday night in Alley Gym Furman's Lady Paladin volleyball team committed 14 service errors in a 3-0 loss to Georgia Southern that featured a trio of games decided by a total of 10 points.
Furman jumped out to 20-12 advantage in game one, but the Eagles stormed back to tie the match at 25 and take their first lead 26-25 on a Whitney Purser attacking error. Purser put down a kill on the next play to tie the game at 26, but a kill by GSU's Jennifer Charles gave the Eagles the advantage once again, and the Lady Paladins were forced to play catch up for the rest of the game. After catching GSU at 29 on an Emily Harby kill, Purser committed a service error to give the Eagles a chance at game point. GSU responded with a kill by Iulia Porumbescu to win game one 31-29.
Game two was extremely close early on with the Lady Paladins trailing 15-14 at the halfway point. The Eagles went on a 6-2 run to take the 21-16 lead and though Furman pulled to within three, 25-22 on a Purser kill, Georgia Southern took the 30-24 decision.
Game three was another close affair, with 13 ties before the Eagles won the 30-28 decision. Furman's effort was hampered by five service errors and a .167 hitting percentage in the game, while Georgia Southern hit .225 with three errors on the serve.
The Lady Paladins were paced on the night by freshman Emily Harby, who hit .600 with 11 kills, and sophomore Kerry Wooten, who hit .273 with 11 kills. Kim Tonkin totaled a team-high nine digs, while setter Courtney Stewardson tallied 38 assists, four block assists, and one block solo in the loss.
The Eagles were led by Iulia Porumbescu's 15 kills, while Jennifer Charles added 10 with a .353 attack percentage. Porumbescu also paced the defense with 13 digs on the night, while Bailey Coleman totaled 12 and Staci Anderson and Natalia Galantini each managed
With the loss, the Lady Paladins fall to 10-14 overall and 6-8 in the Southern Conference, while Georgia Southern improves to 16-8 overall and 9-3 in league play. Furman returns to action on Friday, Nov. 4, with a 7 p.m. home match against Elon.
Chattanooga 3, The Citadel 0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Lindsay Galloway’s 11 kills and 12 digs led the Chattanooga volleyball team to a 3-0 (30-24, 30-23, 30-21) win over The Citadel at Maclellan Gym Saturday afternoon. The senior from Greenwood, Indiana recorded her thirteenth double-double of the season to pace the Lady Mocs.
Sarah Bass added nine kills, while Leslee Ball and Kelly Ramsay had eight apiece. Ramsay led the team with a 58.3 hitting percentage. Her eight kills moved her into eighth place on the all-time kills list, passing Michelle McFarland.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Lady Mocs. Chattanooga is now 10-1 at home this season. The Lady Mocs improved to 13-12 overall and 8-5 in Southern Conference play. The Bulldogs are 3-23 overall and winless in 14 SoCon matches.
Defensively, Lara Newberry had 24 digs and Amanda Durfee added nine. The Lady Mocs had three team blocks, led by Kelly Ramsay’s two block assists.
The Lady Mocs have won five straight home conference matches, the last four via the sweep. Chattanooga is perfect at home during the conference season and is 10- 1 overall at home this year.
The Lady Mocs will host league-leading College of Charleston tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m.
Davidson 3, Elon 1
ELON, N.C. ? The Elon University volleyball team battled to a 1-3 loss to the Wildcats of Davidson College on Saturday afternoon in Alumni Gym. Davidson took game one 30-22 before Elon tied the match at 1-1 with a 31-29 win in game two. But the Wildcats came back to win game three 30-20 and the fourth game 33-31.
In game one, Davidson (12-15, 8-5) took an early advantage, leading by at much as six at 17-11. Elon scored seven of the next nine points to cut the lead to one at 19-18 on a service ace by Emily Lucci. Elon stayed within one at 21-20 before the Wildcats used an 8-2 run to finish the game 30-22.
Game two saw 10 tie scores and six lead changes. Tied 23-23, Elon took a four point advantage at 28-24 behind a balanced offensive attack. Davidson then battled back behind the serve of Liz Williamson to tie the game at 29-29. Elon earned the next two points on a kill from Juliena Gigon and an Ashley Ruckert ace to finish the game 31-29.
After a 10-10 tie in the third game, Davidson took the lead on a kill from Katie Pierucci. The Wildcats opened the lead to six points at 19-13 before Elon scored the next five points to get within one at 19-18. But the Davidson defense only allowed the Phoenix two more points in the game while putting up 11 points behind the offense of Tierney Hodge and the serve of Pierucci to finish the game 30-20. The Wildcats hit .393 for the game with 13 kills and only two errors.
Game four, which saw 11 tie scores and six lead changes, was a battle to the end. Elon took the early edge, leading by as much as five at 9-4 before the Wildcats tied the game at 10-10 behind the serve of Jenna Dykstra. After being tied 13-13, Davidson took the lead by as much as four points, but at 23-19, Elon went on a 4-0 run to tie the game, 23-23. The Wildcats again took the lead but a block by Natalie Moore and Gigon knotted the score, 29-29. After being tied at 30-30 and 31-31, the Wildcats used an Elon attack error and a kill from Hodge to close the game 33-31.
Elon (6-19, 4-9) had two players record double-double in the match. Gigon posted 15 kills and 10 digs while Moore recorded 12 digs and 46 assists. Ruckert led the Elon offense with a career-high 17 kills while Britany Westphal added 12. Brooke Pickard paced the defense with 19 digs, matching her career-best and Emily Downing notched 10 digs. Pickard, Lucci, Ruckert and Lindsay Reinhardt each recorded two service aces while Lucci also posted two solo blocks.
Williamson led the Wildcat offense with 15 kills while Pierucci added 11 and Hodge posted 10. Lindsay Woeste notched 16 digs for the defense and Erin Balak added 11. Jenna Dykstra recorded 39 assists for Davidson along with three service aces.