Chattanooga 3, Elon 2
ELON, N.C. ? The Lady Mocs of Chattanooga used a 6-0 lead early in the decisive game five to take a 15-6 win and earn a 3-2 victory over the Elon volleyball squad on Senior Day at Alumni Gym Sunday afternoon. Elon took game one 30-28 before falling in the second contest 25-30. After the break, Elon won game three 30-26 and fell 21-30 in the fourth game before falling 6-15 in game five.
Chattanooga (18-13, 12-6) took the 6-0 lead in game five behind the serve of Bethany Herndon and the hitting of Sarah Bass and Julianna Martinez. The Lady Mocs controlled the rest of the game, hitting .474 with only two errors to take the 15-6 win.
In game one, the Lady Mocs jumped to an early lead with a seven-point advantage at 12-5. Chattanooga increased its lead to eight at 27-19 before Elon went on an 8-0 run behind the serve of Juliena Gigon and offense of Stefanie Meyers and Britany Westphal to knot the game 27-27. After a tie at 28-28, Elon took the lead on a kill from Westphal and finished the contest on a block by Meyers and Westphal, 30-28.
Game two saw 10 tie scores and eight lead changes. Elon took an early 10-7 lead before the Lady Mocs tied the game at 11-11 on a service ace from Lindsey Galloway. After a 17-17 tie, Chattanooga used a 7-2 run to take a five-point lead at 24-19. The Lady Mocs held onto that lead, finishing the game 30-25.
In game three, Chattanooga took an 11-7 lead before the Phoenix tied the game 13-13 behind the serve of Lindsay Reinhardt. Elon took the lead after an 18-18 tie and outscored the Lady Mocs 10-4 to take a six-point advantage, 28-22. Chattanooga earned the next three points to cut the lead to three, 28-25, but Elon finished the game on two kills from Westphal, 30-26.
Elon (9-22, 6-12) took an early lead in game four before the Lady Mocs knotted the contest at 16-16. After a 17-17 tie, Chattanooga went on a 10-1 run behind the serve of Amanda Durfee to take a 26-18 lead and finish the game 30-21 on a block by Herndon and Leslee Ball.
Galloway recorded a double-double for Chattanooga with 19 digs and 12 kills as well as five service aces. Martinez posted 12 kills for the Lady Mocs with only three errors on 25 attempts for a .360 attack percentage while also tallying three aces. Bass hit .381 with 11 kills and three errors on 21 attempts. Lara Newberry led the defense with a match-high 24 digs while Durfee posted 17 digs. Herndon notched 36 assists for the Lady Mocs.
Westphal paced the Phoenix offense with a match-high 23 kills. Gigon added 13 kills while also recording 18 digs for Elon and seven total blocks. Brooke Pickard posted 13 digs and two service aces while Emily Downing added 12 digs. Kate Hart tallied 25 assists and Natalie Moore added 23.
Both teams will return to action on Thursday, Nov. 17 at the Southern Conference Championship in Statesboro, Ga.
Western Carolina 3, UNC Greensboro 1
GREENSBORO, NC ? Meredith Harmon had a match-high 19 kills to lead Western Carolina to a 3-1 win over UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference women’s volleyball action Sunday afternoon at Fleming Gym.
The Catamounts won the match by scores of 30-28, 20-30, 30-27 and 30-10.
Junior Hilary Overby led UNCG (5-25, 2-16 SoCon) with her third straight double-double of the week as she came up with 15 kills and 17 digs, while senior Lori Collins put away 14 kills and had eight digs in her final home match as a member of the Spartans volleyball program. Fellow senior Lauren Richards and sophomore Lauren Keiser had nine kills apiece, while Richards also added eight blocks.
Senior Adrian Hicks had a match-best 45 assists and sophomore Alysia Rosvold had 12 digs.
Ellie Talbot and Heather Koontz contributed 13 and 11 kills respectively to give Western Carolina (8-24, 7-11 SoCon) three players in double figures in kills. Talbot and Koontz each came up with 23 digs on the defensive end for the Catamounts. Meghan Boyle doled out 40 assists.
UNCG began game one with a 14-7 lead, but Western mounted a come back to tie the game at 17-17. The tightly contested game was still knotted at 28-28 until a Harmon kill and a Spartan attack error gave the Catamounts the 30-28 victory in game one.
UNCG got off to another quick start in game two, but this time the lead would hold. The Spartans went up 15-8 on a Hicks service ace. Western once again put on a charge that saw them get to within two points, 21-19, but UNCG closed game two with a 9-1 run to garner the 30-20 win.
In game three, UNCG led 8-1 in the opening minutes as Overby put away two kills and had a service ace for the Spartans. The Catamounts chipped away at their deficit until they tied the game at 25-25 and would then take the lead for good at 27-26 on a kill by Harmon.
Game four saw Western score the first five points and lead 8-1 early. The Catamounts then ran off 11 straight points to take a commanding 28-9 lead, before closing out the match with a 30-10 victory in game four.
In a brief ceremony before the match, Richards, Hicks and Collins were honored on Senior Day.
Next up for both clubs is the SoCon Tournament that will run November 17-20 in Statesboro, GA. The No. 10 seeded Spartans will take on the yet to be determined seventh-seed on Thursday.