Davidson 3, Furman 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? In its second to last match of the regular season, the Davidson volleyball team looked to ready itself for the conference tournament by hitting .321 for the match and defeating visiting Furman 3-0 (30-23, 30-21, 30-21) in a Southern Conference matchup on Friday, Nov. 11 at Belk Arena. It was the second time this season the Wildcats have had a hitting percentage of over .300. They hit a season-high .356 back on Oct. 1 against Elon. Davidson also avenged an earlier loss to the Lady Paladins when they lost 3-1 back on Oct. 16th.
Davidson moved its SoCon record to 10-7 and its overall record to 14-17. Furman dropped to 8-9 in SoCon play and 12-15 overall.
Furman's Whitney Purser gave the Lady Paladins a 18-13 lead mid-way through the first game on a kill. The Wildcats then caught fire and ran off seven straight points to take a 20-18 lead. Sophomore Kate Pierucci (Bakersfield, Calif.) had three of her 12 kills in the match during the run. Davidson then put the game away by outscoring the Lady Paladins 10-5 for the 30-23 win.
Game two saw Davidson hit a match-high .370, pounding home 16 kills on 27 swings with only six errors. The Wildcats led by as many as 10 points in the 30-21 win.
Furman tried to force a game four by hanging with Davidson in game three as both teams played to an even 16-16 tie. The Wildcats though, made sure there would be no game four as freshman Tierney Hodge (Gainesville, Fla.) hammered home three of her 12 kills down the stretch and Davidson secured the match with a 14-5 run and a 30-21 win. Hodge finished the match hitting over .500, the second time this season she has hit .500 or better.
Junior Liz Williamson (Austin, Texas) had a nice all-around match with a match-high 17 kills, seven digs, three blocks, and a service ace. Davidson as a team had eight serving aces and nine blocks.
Furman was paced by Emily Harby's 10 kills. The Lady Paladins were held to .181 hitting percentage and saw their two-match win streak broken.
Davidson will now finish up regular season play with a match against Wofford at 2 p.m. for Senior Day on Saturday, Nov. 12.
College of Charleston 3, Georgia Southern 0
The College of Charleston volleyball team defeated Georgia Southern 3-0 (30-20, 30-24, 30-23) Friday night at the John Kresse Arena to finish the Southern Conference season undefeated for the first time in the program’s history.
CofC moves to 27-1 overall and 18-0 in the SoCon. The Cougars have already won the SoCon regular season title and will be the number one seed heading into the conference tournament beginning Nov. 18th.
Georgia Southern falls to 19-11 overall and 12-5 in the SoCon.
The Cougars honored its seniors before the match as Kaycie Carr, Becca Shaw, Amanda Timmers, and Rebecca Wieters played their final conference match of their careers. The four seniors were a part of the most successful periods in the program’s history going 110-19 overall and 68-4 in the SoCon since over the past four seasons.
Wieters lead all players offensively registering 15 kills on the night. Tiffany Blum finished with double digit kills as she notched 12 in the match while also earning six blocks in the contest. Carr led all players in assists with 40 and Timmers led all players in digs with 17.
Georgia Southern was led on offense by Iulia Porumbescu who registered 14 kills. Porumbescu also led the Eagles in digs with 14.
Appalachian State 3, Wofford 0
BOONE, N.C. ? Three Mountaineers hit in double-digits in front of their largest home crowd this season as Appalachian State University completed a season sweep of Wofford College with a 3-0 (30-18, 30-20, 30-23) win over the Terriers Friday, Nov. 11 at the Holmes Center.
With the win the Mountaineers improve to 21-8 overall and 14-3 in the Southern Conference. The Terriers fall to 12-15 on the season and 7-10 in conference play. With the win Appalachian clinches second place in the conference and the No. 2 seed in the Southern Conference Tournament next weekend.
Appalachian out-hit its opponent, 54-27, and held a .328 to .034 advantage in hitting percentage. Led by senior Stefanie Panzer’s (Mt. Gilead, N.C.) seven blocks, the Mountaineers recorded 12 total blocks, marking the 14th time this season they have compiled double-digit blocks.
Panzer, in her first match back from an injury, added 13 kills, a .550 attack percentage and two service aces to her seven blocks. Sophomore Dianna Thomas (Mobile, Ala.) led the hitting corps with 13 kills and two errors on 17 attempts for a .647 attack percentage. Fellow sophomore Brittany Zahn (Charlotte, N.C.) came one dig short of her fifth double-double of the season as she tallied 13 kills, nine digs and two aces.
Senior Kali Rumberger (Spokane, Wash.) and freshman Ashley Fliehr (Charlotte, N.C.) led the backcourt with 13 and 10 digs, respectively. Rumberger added a service ace, while Fliehr chipped in four kills and three block assists.
With 46 assists Friday, sophomore Lorelle Rau (Oakland Park, Fla.) now holds seventh place in the ASU record books for career set assists with 1,284. She is also 10th for assists in a season with 1,180.
The Terriers were led by freshman Liz Sheets with seven kills and eight digs. Junior Christal Carey had a team-high 10 digs, while seniors Angela Berry and Katie Sobczyk each chipped in four block assists. Fellow senior Rhea DeJesus tallied a team-high 19 assists in the loss.
The Mountaineers conclude the 2005 regular season as they host Furman for ?Senior Night,’ Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. The three ASU seniors, Panzer, Rumberger and Becky Sorensen will be honored before the match. The Terriers conclude their regular season at Davidson Saturday.