Sept.20, 2005
East Tennessee State 3, Chattanooga 0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- In three games decided by the narrowest possible margin, East Tennessee State came away with a 33-31, 30-28, 30-28 win over the Lady Mocs Tuesday evening at Maclellan Gym.
Down 2-0, UTC looked to grab game three and came out strong getting a seven-point advantage at 13-6. Chattanooga kept the Bucs at arms length through most of the game maintaining the lead until a couple of ETSU kills and two UTC attack errors tied the game at 26-26. East Tennessee went on to claim the game and the match to improve to 7-5 on the season.
In game one, Chattanooga (5-7) jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Lady Bucs fought back to tie it up and the score would remain tight for the rest of the game. ETSU built its lead to three at 15-12, but the Lady Mocs bounced back and would lead 28-25. At game point, an attack error by UTC tied the game 29-29. Two East Tennessee kills would seal the win at 33-31.
The next two games would be just as hard a fight down the stretch. The Lady Bucs built up its largest lead of the game at 14-8, but come back and tie the game 23-23. ETSU hit .325 in the game, recording 19 kills on 40 attempts.
Chattanooga senior Lindsey Galloway registered a double-double with 17 kills and 15 digs. She had a .308 hitting percentage and tallied three service aces. Freshman Lara Newberry, ranked seventh in the nation in digs, tallied 14 on the night. Sophomore Julianna Martinez had nine kills and six blocks.
Freshman setter Michaela Huff started the game and had 21 assists. Sophomore Bethany Herndon played all of game three and recorded 16. The Lady Mocs had 48 kills, 57 digs and seven service aces.
Chattanooga will open Southern Conference play this weekend with a pair of matches. On Saturday Appalachian State will pay a visit to Maclellan Gym at 7 p.m. and the Lady Mocs will take on Davidson Sunday afternoon at 4:00.
Appalachian State 3, Western Carolina 0
Cullowhee, N.C. - Offensive struggles continued for the Western Carolina volleyball team as the Catamounts fell in straight sets, 3-0 (30-17, 30-21, 32-30) to Southern Conference rival, Appalachian State Tuesday night in the Ramsey Center. The Catamounts were limited to a .059 attack percentage despite hitting .237 as a team in a game three rally.
"It's tough to spot a team as good as Appalachian State an early advantage. And it's even tougher to mount any type of a comeback when you're struggling offensively," said first-year head coach Stephanie Dragan. "We did not hit the ball well at all tonight and that was the major difference in the game. But I thought the atmosphere in Ramsey was outstanding. We had a good turnout and a very vocal crowd, I just wish we could have capitalized on that."
The Catamounts (2-11, 1-1 SoCon) were led by senior Ellie Talbot with a team-high seven kills, with junior Heather Koontz adding six in the loss. Her classmate, setter Meghan Boyle, dished out 21 assists and killed four of her own. Sophomore Danielle Spitzer led the defensive charge for Western tallying four total blocks, while junior Kate Willard finished with 11 digs.
Western fell behind early in game one namely due to errors. The Catamounts committed eight attack errors while only countering with five kills for a dismal -.094 attack percentage. The result was a 30-17 Mountaineer win, and an early 1-0 lead for ASU.
Struggles continued in game two despite a renewed vigor from the Catamount side. Western ran out to an early 5-0 lead and nursed the advantage until the Mountaineers tied the game up at 13 apiece. After trading points, Appalachian took control with a Brittany Zahn kill to surge ahead 17-16. From that point on, the Catamounts could only close to within one at 20-19 and witnessed ASU score 10 of the final 12 points in the game to move ahead, 2-0.
After the break, Appalachian State (8-5, 1-0) appeared to be well on its way to completing the three-game sweep. But with the boisterous crowd at its back, the Catamounts mounted a charge. Trailing 20-15, Western inched closer before finally standing on the threshold of defeat with Appalachian serving match-point. Yet the Cats fought it off, scoring four-consecutive points to force an Appalachian timeout. After the stoppage, behind the serve of Krista Neumann, the Cats tallied two more points to tie the game at 29. However, the comeback fell just short as back-to-back Amy Lewis kills and a service ace by Chrissy Finch clinched the match for the Mountaineers.
Freshman Dianna Thomas led the Mountaineer attack, killing 12 on a .238 attack percentage. Preseason All-SoCon selection, junior Stefanie Panzer, also reached double digits with 11 kills with only three errors for a .364 hitting percentage. Sophomore Lorrelle Rau dished out 42 assists, while Finch and senior Kali Rumberger finished with 11 and 10 digs apiece.
Appalachian State visits Chattanooga on Saturday, Sept. 24, while Western returns home to host the Davidson Wildcats in Southern Conference action. With Mountain Heritage Day slated to be on campus this weekend, the match will be held in historic Reid Gymnasium, where the Catamounts are 10-1 since moving into the Ramsey Center full-time in 1999. The Catamounts have won two-straight over the Wildcats entering Saturday's showdown.
UNC Greensboro 3, The Citadel 0
GREENSBORO, NC ? Hilary Overby put away a match-high 13 kills to give UNC Greensboro its first women’s volleyball Southern Conference victory since 2003. The Spartans swept past The Citadel 3-0 Tuesday night at Fleming Gym in their 2005 conference opener.
Overby, a junior from Spring, TX, added 10 digs to go along with her 13 kills for a “double-double” effort this evening. Sophomore Lauren Keiser had 11 kills for UNCG, while sophomore Ashley Smith came up with a career-high 20 digs. Sophomore Alysia Rosvold had 13 digs and senior Adrian Hicks doled out 38 assists.
“The win was certainly a timely one for us,” said first-year head coach Shawn Garus. “Our team starts out the conference season with a victory and hopefully this is something we can build off. We played to win tonight and that is something we practice every day.”
UNCG (2-9, 1-0 SoCon) won the match by scores of 37-35, 30-30 and 30-28.
The Bulldogs fall to 1-11 on the season and 0-3 in the SoCon.
In the opening game with the score tied 35-35, Rosvold notched a service ace to put UNCG in the driver seat for a game one win. After another Rosvold jump serve, Alexandra Morrell’s attack was unsuccessful, giving the Spartans a thrilling 37-35 win. UNCG rattled off seven straight points to take an early 7-2 lead, but the Bulldogs stormed back to knot the affair, 13-13, on a block by Amy Brooks and Marina Daniel.
The Citadel continued its torrid play and would lead by as much as seven points, 24-17, but UNCG rallied with a 13-5 run to take a 30-29 lead on a Keiser service error. Keiser served again for the game, but an Amy Brooks’
kill tied the game 30-30.
Game two was tied 10-10, before UNCG took a 21-14 lead on a Keiser put away. Keiser provided much of the offense in the second game for the Spartans, including another kill that gave the home team a 25-15 advantage.
Freshman Kaitlyn Nortz put the finishing touches on the game with a kill.
The Citadel broke open a tightly played third game to take a 24-17 lead on a UNCG ball handling error. With the Bulldogs still holding on to a 26-21 lead, the Spartans ran off six straight points to grab a 27-26 lead. Overby jump started the run with a kill off a feed from Hicks, while Nortz capped the spurt with another service ace.
Stefanie Farris tied the game, 27-27, with a kill for the Bulldogs, but Overby proved to be too much by putting away two more kills, including the final point that gave UNCG its first SoCon win since a 3-0 win over The Citadel on October 17, 2003.
Daniel led The Citadel with 12 kills, while Rachel Sanders had 10 kills of her own. Emily Hill led four players in double-figures in digs with 15.
Hill also dished out 34 assists.
UNCG will host league foe Elon this Friday night at Fleming Gym at 7 pm.
It’s Fall Fest and Alumni Reunion weekend at UNCG. The women’s volleyball team will also take on SoCon rival Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon at 2 pm.