Georgia Southern 3, Wofford 0
The Wofford volleyball team fell to visiting Georgia Southern Sunday afternoon, 3-0, in the Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Lady Eagles garnered the sweep by scores of 30-19, 30-28 and 30-23.
Leading the Georgia Southern attack was Iulia Porumbescu with 14 kills and 31 total attacks with just two errors for a .387 hitting percentage. Bailey Coleman added a .355 hitting percentage, equaling the team's output, with 12 kills and one error on 31 total attacks.
Gorana Bacic hit .444 for the Lady Eagles on the strength of four kills and zero errors on nine total attacks, while Jennifer Charles posted a .350 hitting percentage on 10 kills and 20 total attacks with just three errors.
Natalia Galantini and Mae Chabra shared setting duties for Georgia Southern (18-8, 11-3 SoCon) with 24 and 22 assists, respectively.
Staci Anderson led the visitors with 13 digs on the defensive side of the ball.
Southern Conference Freshman of the Year candidate Brittany Thompson tallied 12 kills and 32 total attacks to lead Wofford (10-13, 5-8 SoCon) offensively. She was joined by senior Katie Sobczyk with in double-digit kills with 11.
Fellow rookie Liz Sheets hit a career-best .455 on five kills and 11 total attacks with zero errors, while setter Rhea DeJesus hit .538 after posting seven kills with zero errors on 13 total attacks.
DeJesus also led all players with 31 assists, while sophomore Tory Macomson registered a match-high 16 digs.
The Terriers will play at Chattanooga at 7 p.m. Wednesday before returning home for their final two matches in the Benjamin Johnson Arena this season Saturday and Sunday versus Elon and UNC Greensboro, respectively.
Georgia Southern 3, Wofford 0
30-19, 30-28, 30-23
Team Comparison:
Kills -- Georgia Southern 54, Wofford 40
Total Attacks -- Georgia Southern 124, Wofford 119
Hitting Percentage -- Georgia Southern .355, Wofford .252
Assists -- Georgia Southern 52, Wofford 38
Service Aces -- Georgia Southern 9, Wofford 4
Digs -- Georgia Southern 58, Wofford 56
Total Blocks -- Georgia Southern 4.0, Wofford 3.0
Points -- Georgia Southern 67.0, Wofford 47.0
UNC Greensboro 3, Davidson 2
GREENSBORO, NC ? UNC Greensboro defeated Davidson, 3-2, for the first time in eight years in Southern Conference women’s volleyball action Sunday afternoon at Fleming Gym. Senior Lauren Richards and junior Hilary Overby combined for 34 kills in the winning effort for the Spartans.
UNCG (4-20, 2-11 SoCon) had not beat Davidson since a home victory on October 22, 1997, which was the first year the Spartans became a member of the SoCon. The win also snapped a 15-match losing streak to the Wildcats and avenged a 3-0 loss at Davidson back on October 2.
“This win certainly validates all the hard work that this team has put in,” first-year head coach Shawn Garus said. “We have been playing better lately but just wasn’t able to pull it all together until today. We played a flawless fifth game and that was the difference.”
The Spartans posted a .667 hitting percentage with 12 kills, no attack errors, on 16 attempts in the decisive fifth game. Kills by sophomore Lauren Keiser, Overby and senior Adrian Hicks quickly gave UNCG a 3-0 lead. The home team would not relinquish the lead and would extend its advantage to 12-8 on Overby’s final kill of the match. Keiser would ultimately finish things off with her ninth put away of the contest.
Richards, a native of Hagerstown, MD, had a match-best 18 kills on a .429 hitting percentage. Overby, who hails for Spring, TX, added 12 digs to her 16 kills for a double-double effort. Sophomore Ashley Smith came up with 20 digs to lead six Spartans to double digit dig totals. Sophomore Alysia Rosvold had 19 digs, while junior Kristin Heverly, Overby and Keiser each had 12 digs. Hicks rounded out the defensive effort with 11 digs, to go with her 49 assists.
Katie Pierucci and Liz Williamson each had 15 kills to lead Davidson (12-16, 8-6 SoCon). Williamson had a team-high 19 digs, while Lindsey Woeste and Jenna Dykstra had 15 and 13 digs respectively.
The two clubs traded wins in the first four games of the match. Davidson went ahead early in game one and led throughout in a 30-22 victory. UNCG answered right back with a 30-26 win in game two.
After the intermission, Davidson snapped a 15-15 tie by outscoring UNCG 15-4 the rest of the way in game three, including 10 straight to close out the win. Overby decreased the Spartans deficit to 20-19, but Tierney Neale jump started the Wildcats with one of her seven kills and Dykstra capped the 10-point spurt with the game’s final point for a 30-19 win.
UNCG once again had an answer for its visitors, this time in dominating fashion. The Spartans led by as much as 12 points, 19-7, before closing out game four with a 30-19 win, setting up the nearly perfect fifth game for the Spartans.
The win marks UNCG’s first 3-2 league win since beating East Tennessee State on November 15, 2002. The Spartans had lost their last five five-game matches.
UNCG gets back to action on Tuesday when the Spartans travel to local and SoCon rival Elon for a 7 pm contest at Alumni Gym. Meanwhile, Davidson will visit first-place College of Charleston on Saturday, November 5 at 2 pm in Charleston, SC.
Western Carolina 3, The Citadel 2
Cullowhee, N.C. - Junior Heather Koontz recorded a career-high 20 kills as three Catamounts had career days as Western Carolina snapped a four-game losing skid, knocking off The Citadel in five, 3-2 (28-30, 30-13, 25-30, 30-19, 15-10) Sunday afternoon in the Ramsey Center.
Western improved to 7-20 overall, 6-9 in the Southern Conference, while The Citadel dropped to 3-24 on the season, winless in 14 attempts in league play.
The Catamounts were paced by Koontz' seventh double-double of the season, which included her career-best 20 kills and 14 digs. She hit a sizzling .529, committing just two errors, while adding four assists, three service aces, and a solo block. Her classmate, Krista Neumann, also had a career day in the win as the Downers Grove, Ill., native tallied her fourth double-double of the year, recording 13 kills and a career-high 13 digs on the afternoon. She also dished out a career-best seven assists.
Sophomore Meredith Harmon ranked second on the team in kills, tallying 16 on a .308 attack percentage in the win, with senior Ellie Talbot registering 15 kills and 12 digs. Junior setter Meghan Boyle tallied a fourth WCU double-tilt, dishing out 50 assists and digging a career-high 20 while killing four. Libero classmate, Kate Willard, added 14 digs defensively for the Catamounts.
After dropping a nip-and-tuck game one, 30-28, the Catamounts dominated nearly every facet of the game to knot the match at one apiece, winning the second game, 30-19. Western hit a team match-high .364 while limiting the Bulldogs to a -.034 attack percentage in game two, using a 7-1 run to open play and a 7-0 spurt to stretch the advantage to 11, 15-to-4. Western would finish off the game by scoring six of the final 10 points.
Game three was another tight affair until the Bulldogs rattled off seven-consecutive points, two on service aces by freshman Emily Hill, to break open the 10-9 game to 17-to-9. The Catamounts would close to within four points, 28-24, but The Citadel reclaimed the match lead, 2-1, with the 30-25 win. The `Dogs hit a match-high .469 in the win.
Nearly true to form, game four was painted purple and gold as Western hit above .300 for the third-consecutive game as a team to force the decisive fifth game. The Catamounts put together an 15-to-4 run to pull ahead, 22-10, and held on for the tying win, 30-19.
In the fifth, Western Carolina raced to a 5-1 lead and would never look back. The Citadel scored four-consecutive points to close to within three, 13-10, but Western tallied the final two points to win the game, 15-10, and the match, 3-2.
The Bulldogs were led by freshman Rachel Sanders with a match-high 22 kills and 15 digs for the lone double-double performance for The Citadel. Her classmate, Hill, just missed the double-dip with 49 assists and nine digs, adding three service aces. Seniors Marina Daniel and Stefanie Farris each reached double figures in kills, finishing with 12 and 12, respectively.
The Catamounts are idle until traveling to Georgia Southern in a week, battling the Eagles next Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2:00 pm in Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, Ga., the site of the 2005 Southern Conference Volleyball Championships. The Citadel steps out of conference play for a Wednesday night match with South Carolina State at the McAlister Field House in Charleston, S.C.
College of Charleston 3, Chattanooga 0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- In a match which saw both defenses outplay the opposing offenses, The College of Charleston defeated Chattanooga 3-0 (30-16, 30-22, 30-23) to hand the Lady Mocs their first home loss in conference play.
The Chattanooga defense held down the leading offense in the Southern Conference, but had a difficult time generating any offense of their own. The Lady Mocs held the Cougars to a hitting percentage of .164 for the match, well below their league-leading mark of .267. Julianna Martinez had two solo blocks and two block assists to lead the defense. Lara Newberry’s 27 digs led Chattanooga, while Lindsay Galloway added 17.
Martinez also led the Lady Mocs offense with 11 kills. She also hit a team-high .300 for the match. Galloway added nine kills, coming one shy of a second straight double-double. Bethany Herndon added 19 assists.
Charleston was led by Amanda Timmers and Rebecca Wieters who had 12 and 9 kills respectively. The Cougar offense was also aided by 11 service aces, including five from setter Kaycie Carr who also had 33 set assists.
The Cougars are now 24-1 and remain a perfect 15-0 in the Southern Conference. The Lady Mocs drop to 13-13 overall and 8-6 in the SoCon.
Chattanooga will take on the Terriers of Wofford Wednesday night at Maclellan Gym. Game time is set for 7 p.m.