Furman 3, Appalachian State 2
BOONE, N.C. ? Furman University came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Appalachian State University volleyball, 3-2 (26-30, 25-30, 30-22, 30-22, 15-13), to ruin ?Senior Night’ in front of a crowd of 334 Saturday at the Holmes Center.
With the loss the Mountaineers drop to 21-9 overall and 14-4 in conference play. Appalachian clinched the No. 2 seed in the Southern Conference Tournament with a win over Wofford Friday night. With the win Saturday, Furman improves to 9-9 in league play and 12-15 overall.
The Paladins out-hit the Mountaineers, 74-56, recording a .275 hitting percentage. Furman also out-blocked Appalachian, 12-9, recording the second-most blocks by an ASU opponent this season. The Mountaineers’ .144 hitting percentage is their lowest in SoCon play this season.
Junior Whitney Purser led Furman with 22 kills and nine digs. Freshman Emily Harby added 17 kills, while sophomore Chibuzo Aguocha chipped in 14. Senior libero Molly Rybak paced the Paladins with 22 digs, while junior Ally Hock also reached double-digits with 15. Sophomore Kerry Wooden compiled a match-high seven blocks.
The Mountaineers had three players hit in double-digits and another three record double-digit digs, led by senior Stefanie Panzer (Mt. Gilead, N.C.) with 14 kills and junior Chrissy Finch (Lake Zurich, Ill.) with 22 digs. Panzer added a team-high five blocks.
Sophomores Dianna Thomas (Mobile, Ala.) and Brittany Zahn (Charlotte, N.C.) reached double-digit kills with 10 and 12 respectively. Zahn served a match-high four aces. Senior Kali Rumberger (Spokane, Wash.) and junior Rachel Gates (Hanover, Pa.) recorded 19 and 11 digs, respectively. In three games, senior Becky Sorensen compiled three service aces.
The Mountaineers move on to postseason play as they head to Statesboro, Ga., for the Southern Conference Tournament, Nov 17-10. Appalachian will open tournament play Friday, Nov. 18 against the winner of No. 7 vs. No. 10 at 4:30 p.m.
Georgia Southern 3, The Citadel 0
Charleston, SC - Senior outside hitter Stephenie Allen led The Citadel (4-27, 0-18 SoCon) with 10 kills but Georgia Southern (21-10, 13-5 SoCon) fought off two late Bulldog rallies to defeat The Citadel, 3-0 in Southern Conference volleyball action on Senior Night, Saturday evening in McAlister Field House.
Freshman setter Emily Hill had 30 assists for the Bulldogs while senior middle blocker Marina Daniel had five total blocks. Freshman outside hitter Rachel Sanders had 12 digs.
Georgia Southern was led by sophomore outside hitter Bailey Coleman with 11 kills, while senior setter Natalia Galantini had 25 assists.
Both squads will next take part in the Southern Conference tournament in Statesboro, GA, which begins on Thursday, November 17.
Chattanooga 3, UNC Greensboro 2
GREENSBORO, NC ? Chattanooga made an improbably comeback Saturday night after losing the first two games to UNC Greensboro, before storming back with three straight wins to take the five-game, 3-2, win over the host Spartans in Southern Confernce women’s volleyball action at Fleming Gym.
Freshman Kaitlyn Nortz paced UNCG (5-24, 2-15 SoCon) with a match-high 19 kills and 10 blocks. Junior Hilary Overby and sophomore Lauren Keiser each had double-double efforts as well. Overby had 13 kills and 16 digs, while Keiser had 13 kills and 19 digs. Senior’s Lauren Richards and Lori Collins put away 12 and 10 kills respectively.
Senior Adrian Hicks dished out 60 assists and came up with 16 digs, while sophomore Alysia Rosvold had a team-high 21 digs. Sophomore Ashley Smith had 12 digs of her own.
For Chattanooga (17-13, 11-6 SoCon), Lindsey Galloway had a team-leading 18 kills and had 18 digs as well. Kelly Ramsay and Leslee Ball contributed 15 and 14 kills respectively. Amanda Durfee had a match-high 25 digs, while Bethany Herndon doled out 49 assists for the Lady Mocs.
UNCG was in cruise control throughout the first two games, posting impressive 30-18 and 30-26 wins to take a commanding 2-0 lead. The Spartans hit .414 and .444 in back-to-back games to stake themselves to their advantage.
After the intermission, the momentum had turned towards the visitors. UTC dominated game three by a 30-20 score, before hanging on for a tight, 30-32, win in game four.
In game five, Richards put UNCG up 1-0, but the Lady Mocs scored five of the next six points to take a 5-2 lead. UNCG stayed within two, 13-11, by a kill by Ramsay and a Spartan attack error closed out the win for Chattanooga.
UNCG out-hit Chattanooga .187 to .158 in the match.
UNCG wraps up its regular season portion of the schedule against Western Carolina on Sunday at 2 pm at Fleming Gym. Meanwhile, Chattanooga will visit Elon tomorrow at 2p.m.
Davidson 3, Wofford 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? The Wildcat volleyball team honored its lone senior, Erin Balak (San Clemente, Calif.), before the start of the match on Senior Day and she took care of the rest, leading Davidson to a 3-0 sweep of Wofford in its final regular season match on Saturday afternoon in Belk Arena. Balak had season highs in kills (12) and hitting percentage (.385), while just missing out on a double-double with nine digs. Her .385 hitting percentage paced the team.
Davidson ended the regular season on a three-match win streak, moving its record to 15-17 overall and 11-7 in the SoCon. Wofford ended its regular season of play at 12-16 overall and 7-11 in the SoCon.
Game scores were 30-18, 30-27, 30-27.
The Wildcats placed two other players in double-digits in kills led by junior Liz Williamson's (Austin, Texas) match-high 16 and sophomore Kate Pierucci (Bakersfield, Calif.) chipped in with 10. Williamson had her 13th double-double of the season with a team-high 14 digs. Junior setterJenna Dykstra (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) just missed out on 50-assist match, earning a game-high 47. It was the ninth time she has finished a match with 40 or more assists.
After hitting .321 in Friday night's match, Davidson continued its hot-hitting in both games one and three by swinging at .312 and .340 clip for the 30-18 and 30-27 wins. The Wildcats combined for only 10 errors in both games.
Game two saw Wofford tie things up at 23-all on a kill by Rhea DeJesus after Davidson had led by as many as four points. After head coach Tim Cowie took a timeout, the Wildcats' Williamson and Pierucci picked up four of the next six points on kills and Davidson led 27-24. The Terriers came back and tied it at 27-27, but Balak stepped in and hammered home two kills, combined with an attack error by DeJesus, for a 30-27 Wildcat win.
The Terriers were led by six players who had six or more kills. DeJesus finished with team-high honors, getting eight kills and earning 29 assists.
Davidson will now ready itself for the Southern Conference tournament next week in Statesboro, Ga. on the campus of Georgia Southern. The first round of play starts on Thursday, Nov. 17 and the championship match will be played on Sunday, Nov. 20.
Elon 3, Western Carolina 1
ELON, N.C. ? The Elon University volleyball team collected a 3-1 win over the visiting Catamounts of Western Carolina on Saturday evening in Alumni Gym. Elon took game one 30-26 and fell in game two 21-30 before winning the last two game 30-24 and 30-24 to earn the victory.
After a 12-12 tie in game one, Elon used a 5-0 run behind strong hitting to take a 17-12 advantage. Elon held onto the lead, but the Catamounts got within three at 28-25 before Elon closed the game 30-26 on kills from Juliena Gigon and Emily Lucci. The Catamounts took an early lead in the second game and led by four for most of the contest. Ahead 23-19, Western Carolina went on a 7-2 sprint to finish the game 30-21.
In the third game, Elon (9-21, 6-11) took a commanding 5-0 lead and never looked back. Elon went ahead 13-6 before the Catamounts battled back within four points at 15-11 behind the offense of Danielle Spritzer. Elon then took control again and gained a 10-point lead at 24-14 on a kill from Britany Westphal. Elon stayed on top the rest of the game and finished the contest 30-24 on a kill from Ashley Ruckert. The Phoenix posted a .412 attack percentage in the game compared to .108 for the Catamounts.
Western Carolina (7-24, 6-11) took a 7-5 lead in game four before Elon knotted the score 7-7 on a kill from Westphal. After a 9-9 tie, the Phoenix scored the next four points to go ahead 13-9. Elon extended its lead to as much as eight before Western Carolina came back to within four at 26-22 on a kill from Meredith Harmon. But Elon quickly finished the game 30-24 to take the match.
Westphal led the Elon offense with 19 kills on 40 attempts and six errors for a .325 hitting percentage. Ruckert added 17 kills while Gigon posted a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs. Brooke Pickard led the defense with 16 digs while Emily Downing added 12. Natalie Moore recorded 61 assists for the Phoenix along with two service aces.
Ellie Talbot paced the Catamounts, recording a double-double with 16 kills and 19 digs. Spitzer notched 11 kills while Krista Neumann added 10 for WCU. Heather Koontz recorded 14 digs while Kate Willard added 12 digs and two aces. Meghan Boyle posted 44 assists and five kills for the Catamounts.
Elon returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 13 in a 2 p.m. match with Chattanooga while Western Carolina will travel to UNC Greensboro for a match at 2 p.m. on Sunday.