Furman 3, UNC Greensboro 1
GREENSBORO, NC ? Whitney Purser and Chibuzo Aguocha notched 18 kills apiece to lead Furman to a 3-1 win over UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference women’s volleyball action Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gym.
and led the Spartans with 16 and 11 kills respectively in a losing effort.
After Furman cruised to a 30-18 win in the opening game, UNCG (2-14, 1-5 SoCon) answered back with a 30-22 victory to square the match 1-1. The Spartans hit an impressive .371 in game two. A kill by Furman’s Aguocha got the Paladins to within one point, 15-14, but UNCG rattled off three straight points, including a kill by freshman
, that put the Spartans up 18-14. The home team never looked back as they dominated the remainder of the second game.
In game three, Furman (7-10, 3-4 SoCon) broke open a 10-10 affair by scoring nine of the next 13 points to take a 19-14 lead after an Aguocha service ace. UNCG never got any closer than three points, 20-17, before the Lady Paladins closed the game out by scoring the final four points for a 30-23 win in game three.
Game four saw Furman jump out to an early 12-5 advantage, before the Spartans took their first lead of the game, 14-13 on a Paladin attack error. The game was tied, 20-20, for the final time before Furman scored four straight points to take a 24-20 lead. The Paladins would not surrender the lead from that point and Purser put the final touches on the match with a kill to close things out.
Overby, the junior from Spring, TX, had 14 digs to go along with her team-leading 16 kills. Sophomore
also came up with 14 digs, while sophomore had 13 digs to her credit. Senior had 40 assists.
Celestee Wilson added 10 kills for Furman to give the visitors three players in double-figures in kills. Molly Rybak doled out a match-high 51 assists and had 12 digs. Kim Tonkin paced the Furman defensive effort with 21 digs. Purser and Ally Hock contributed 12 and 11 digs respectively.
UNCG returns to Fleming Gym tomorrow when SoCon rival Wofford comes to town for a 2 pm contest. Meanwhile, Furman will host Wofford on Tuesday at 7 pm in Greenville, SC.
Appalachian State 3, The Citadel 0
BOONE, N.C. ? The Mountaineers bounced back after Friday’s heartbreaking loss to the College of Charleston, as the Appalachian State University volleyball team swept The Citadel, 3-0 (30-20, 30-25, 30-23) in Southern Conference play, Saturday, Oct. 8 at the Holmes Center.
With the win, the Apps improve to 11-7 overall and 4-2 in the SoCon, while the Bulldogs drop to 2-17 overall and 0-8 in conference play. ASU out-hit The Citadel, 47-30, while compiling 43 kills compared to the Bulldogs’ 34.
Serving was key in the match as the Mountaineers recorded 12 service aces led by three apiece from Lorelle Rau (Oakland Park, Fla.), Kali Rumberger (Spokane, Wash.) and Becky Sorensen (Raleigh, N.C.)
Freshman Ashley Fliehr (Charlotte, N.C.) had a breakout game for the Mountaineers, recording career highs with eight kills and a match-high 11 digs. Teammate Brittany Zahn (Charlotte, N.C.) led all hitters with 14 kills. The sophomore finished with a .400 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Dianna Thomas was the only other Mountaineer to hit in double-digits as she recorded 12 kills on a .429 hitting percentage. Fellow sophomore Rau continued the youth-filled night for ASU as she recorded a match-high 39 set assists.
Stefanie Farris led the Bulldogs with 11 kills and six digs. Rachel Sanders and Stephanie Allen anchored The Citadel defense with 10 digs each, while Emily Hill racked up 22 assists and three service aces.
Game one started out close with the teams exchanging points to start the match. With the game tied at eight, the Mountaineers went on a 12-4 run to take a 20-12 lead. The Mountaineers didn’t look back, going on to take game one 30-20, and a 1-0 match lead.
Down 25-17 in game two, The Citadel pulled within three at 26-23, but it wasn’t enough as ASU went on to win game two, 30-25, behind five kills apiece by Thomas and Zahn.
The Citadel jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead to start game three. The Mountaineers countered as Sorensen rattled off six-straight points to force a Bulldog timeout and take an 8-3 lead. The Bulldogs pulled within two at 9-7 before the Mountaineers went on to win game three, 30-23 and take the match, 3-0.
The Mountaineers hit the road next week as they head to Furman and Wofford, Oct. 15 and 16 to continue SoCon play. Both matches begin at 2 p.m.
College of Charleston 3, Davidson 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? Rebecca Wieters and Amanda Timmers each had a match-high 16 kills and the College of Charleston Cougars stopped Davidson’s three-match win streak with a SoCon win, 3-0, on Saturday, Oct. 8 at Belk Arena. The Wildcats fell to 3-2 in SoCon play and 7-12 overall. The Cougars moved their win streak to eight matches, while improving to 8-0 in the SoCon and 16-1 overall.
Game scores were 24-30, 24-30, 23-30.
Charleston swung at a .244 clip in its game one win, finishing with 16 kills as they held Davidson to a .023 hitting percentage. The Wildcats did get to within one, 18-17, on a set error from the Cougars’ Kaycie Carr, but. Charleston finished off the game with a 12-7 run, ending on a kill from Sarah Voss.
With the score tied at 20-20, thanks to a kill from junior
Liz Williamson(Austin, Texas), the Cougars took command of game two by scoring eight of the next 10 points to take a 28-22 lead. Tiffany Blum had three straight kills during the run and Charleston finished off the game with back-to-back kills fro m Timmers.
Charleston took care of business in the final game, jumping out to a 11-3 advantage before Davidson called a timeout. The Wildcats never recovered, getting only as close as four points, 25-21, fell in game three 30-23. Davidson did hit its best in game three at a .158 mark with 13 kills.
Williamson earned her sixth double-double of the year with a team-high 12 kills and 11 digs. Senior Erin Balak (San Clemente, Calif.) matched Williamson with 11 digs, the sixth time this year she has had 10 or more digs.
Charleston hit .315 for the match, pounding home 54 kills on 124 swings. Besides her 16 kills, Timmers also dug out a match-high 15 attacks.
Davidson wraps up its five-match homestand on Sunday, Oct. 9 against The Citadel at 2 p.m.
Elon 3, Wofford 1
ELON, N.C. ? Behind four hitters in double-digit kills, the Elon volleyball team took a 3-1 over the Wofford Terriers on Saturday evening in a Southern Conference match. The Phoenix took game one 30-24 before dropping game two 26-30. Elon came back to take the third and fourth games by scores of 30-28 and 30-26.
Britany Westphal led the offense with 19 kills while Emily Lucci posted 15 kills and only one error on 28 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage. Juliena Gigon added 14 kills and Ashley Ruckert tallied 11. Shelley MacBean recorded a career-high 14 digs and added two service aces while Lucci recorded 14 digs and Gigon added 12. Kate Hart notched 57 assists for Elon. Emily Downing and Lucci each recorded two solo blocks.
Christal Carey led the Wofford team with 16 kills, 15 digs and four service aces. Brittany Thompson posted 11 kills and 10 digs while Katie Sobczyk added 11 kills and Shana Glenn tallied 10 digs. Rhea DeJesus recorded 46 assists for the Terriers.
Elon (4-13, 2-4) jumped to an early 10-6 lead in the first game. Then, up by two at 16-14, the Phoenix used a 9-4 run to take a seven-point lead at 25-18. The Terriers pushed back to within four points at 28-24 but Elon earned two points on a Wofford service error and a kill from Lucci to end the game 30-24.
Wofford (7-8, 2-4) took a the lead in game two and lead by four at 15-11 before Elon went on a 6-2 run behind powerful hitting to tie the game at 17-17. After being tied 19-19, Wofford used its own 6-2 run to go ahead 25-21. Elon fought back to within two points at 28-26 but the Terriers finished the game 30-26.
Game three saw 11 tie scores and eight lead changes. Wofford led by six at 15-9 before a 9-0 run behind the serve of Ashley Ruckert put Elon ahead 18-15. The Terriers knotted the game at 19-19 and eventually pulled out to a 28-26 lead. But Elon scored the next four points and ended the game 30-28 on a block from Downing.
In game four, the Terriers took a seven-point advantage at 13-6 early in the contest. Down 20-15, Elon used a 10-0 run behind the serve of MacBean to take the 25-15 lead. Wofford fought back to within one at 27-26 on a kill from Angela Berry. After a timeout, Elon got kills from Ruckert and Lucci before finishing the game 30-26 on a Wofford attack error.
Elon returns to action on Wednesday, Oct. 12 in a 7 p.m. match at High Point and Wofford is next in action on Sunday in a 2 p.m. conference match at UNC Greensboro.