College of Charleston 3, UNC Greensboro 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Some fanfare, along with College of Charleston’s 49th straight home conference win, was enough for Sherry Dunbar to reach the century mark for career wins.
“It’s exciting,” said Dunbar after recording the milestone victory. “A lot of pressure has been lifted off me.”
Dunbar credits her success to her players and her assistants, Sarah Gustin and Jake Lawrence. “The support here has been wonderful.”
The Cougars (14-5, 8-0 Southern Conference) swept UNC Greensboro, 3-0 (30-21, 30-22, 30-17), before 375 at John Kresse Arena Saturday afternoon, to snap the Spartans’ four-match win streak.
“I thought we played well,” said Dunbar.
Emily Sawin and Tiffany Blum paced the Cougars with five and four kills, respectively. Blum hit a .667 clip, and Sawin hit .667 as the Charleston won Game 1, 30-21.
Charleston took Game 2, 30-22, as the Cougars hit .255, while the Spartans were held to .122 hitting. The Cougars capped the final game with .333 hitting, holding UNCG to .073.
Sawin led the offensive attack with 14 kills on .462 hitting, and Blum, who hit a season-high .571, had eight kills. Lindsey Kane dished out a match-high 31 assists and had five kills on .400 hitting. Deanna Patrick had eight kills.
Marie Dobrenz anchored the defensive as she came up with a match-high 19 digs.
UNCG’s Kaitlyn Nortz led the Spartans (15-8, 5-5) with eight kills.
Charleston hit .294 as a team, while the Spartans hit .133
The Cougars will host Elon (8-11, 5-3 SoCon) on Sunday at 2 p.m., and UNC Greensboro will meet Elon on Oct. 17 in Greensboro, N.C.
Elon 3, The Citadel 0
CHARLESTON, S.C.- Juliena Gigon posted 12 kills to lead the Elon Phoenix to a 3-0 victory over The Citadel in Southern Conference volleyball action on Saturday afternoon. Elon took the games by scored of 30-20, 30-17 and 30-20.
The Phoenix hit .306 in the match while The Citadel hit .041. The Citadel could not overcome the Elon block as the Phoenix out-blocked the Bulldogs 11-1 with four Elon players recording three blocks in the match.
The Citadel (7-16, 1-9) held close in the first game as the teams exchanged leads twice and tied on five separate occasions. Three consecutive Phoenix kills by Emily Lucci at the 10-9 mark put Elon ahead for good, but the Phoenix did not fully pull away from The Citadel until a 7-0 run put Elon up 29-19 near the end of the game. After a Kim Cooper kill for the Bulldogs, a Gigon and Emily Downing block sealed the 30-20 game for Elon.
Elon (8-11, 5-3) jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead early in the second game. Elon used that early momentum to vault out to a 24-9 lead in the second set before an Emily Hill kill stopped the Phoenix streak. The Bulldogs earned some points back but were unable to finish the rally and Elon closed the game on an ace form Lucci.
After a 12-12 tie in game three, Elon scored the next five points to go ahead 17-12. Elon held onto that lead and closed the game 30-20 on a solo block by Gigon.
Brooke Pickard led the Phoenix with 13 digs while Downing added 10. Natalie Moore tallied 33 assists and nine digs for Elon.
Samantha Parisi led the Bulldogs with nine kills and 14 digs. Ashley Winter posted 13 digs and Rachel Sanders added 11.
Elon returns to action on Sunday in a 2 p.m. match at College of Charleston.
Western Carolina 3, Wofford 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Katie Hennessey had a match-high .643 hitting percentage to lead the Catamounts to a 3-0 (30-24, 30-26, 30-22) victory over the Wofford Terriers Saturday afternoon in Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Hennessey scored on 11 of her 14 attempts to finish second for Western Carolina (6-19, 2-7) in kills behind Meredith Harmon, who finished with 12 and a .524 clip. Heather Koontz also contributed 10 kills and a .250 hitting percentage against the Terriers to help the Catamounts to a .327 team clip.
Liz Sheets and Sarah Twitty led the Terriers offensively with nine and 11 kills, respectively. Sheets had a team-high .368 hitting percentage on 19 attacks while Twitty added her team-leading 176th kill of the season.
Joanna Suddath served up 25 assists for Wofford, the 17th time this season that the freshman has finished with 20 or more assists in a match.
Shanna Hughes assisted on two of the Terriers three blocks in the match which gives her 29 on the season.
In attendance against Western Carolina were 150 Girl Scouts who took part in “Step-It-Up Day,” a fitness initiative sponsored by Wofford College. The girls participated in various field-day activities at Snyder Field before cheering on the Terrier volleyball squad.
Wofford (6-13, 1-8) will take on Chattanooga tomorrow afternoon (Saturday, Oct. 15) at 2 p.m. in Benjamin Johnson Arena for “Club South Day.”
Furman 3, Chattanooga 0
Greenville, S.C. -- Three Paladins reached double-figures in digs, and Furman recorded 13 total blocks on the way to a 3-0 (30-25, 30-27, 30-24) win over Chattanooga at Lyles Alley Gymnasium on Saturday night.
Stephanie Smith recorded 22 digs, and Whitney Purser and Ally Hock added
13 and 11, respectively for the Paladins. Kerry Wooten and Nicole Palazzo each tallied six total blocks, while Hock contributed five blocks to lead a solid defensive effort.
Palazzo led the way for Furman with 11 kills, and Purser, Wooten, Hock, and Alison West each added seven kills apiece. Hock now has 993 career kills, and needs just seven more to become the 14th player in Furman history with 1,000 career kills. Courtney Stewardson recorded 35 set assists and added four service aces.
Leslee Ball recorded a game-high 13 kills to pace Chattanooga. Kelsey Amundson tied for the game-high with 22 defensive saves.
With the win, Furman improves to 11-9 overall, 7-2 in the Southern Conference. Chattanooga falls to 7-13 on the season, 5-3 in conference action. Furman returns to action on Sunday afternoon as the Paladins entertain Western Carolina at Alley Gym at 2 p.m.
Appalachian State 3, Georgia Southern 1
BOONE, N.C. - Senior Amy Lewis (Chesnee, S.C.) recorded a career-high 10 total blocks while leading the Appalachian State University volleyball team to its eight-straight win with a 3-1 (30-24, 24-30, 31-29, 30-14) victory over Southern Conference-foe Georgia Southern, Saturday at the Holmes Center.
The Mountaineers improve to 9-1 in the SoCon and 16-7 overall, having won 10 of their last 11 matches. The Eagles drop to 2-6 in league play and 8-8 on the season.
Appalachian tied its 10th-best mark in school history with 26 block assists, as the team compiled 18 total blocks. Lewis was responsible for 10 of those blocks, as she also set a career-high with nine block assists. Sophomore Carla Durham (Dallas, Ga.) added six total blocks, while junior Dianna Thomas (Mobile, Ala.) blocked five attacks.
The Mountaineers recorded its most kills in a game in the match in the opening set with 19. ASU held GSU to just a .138 hitting percentage to take the game, 30-24. In the second game, Georgia Southern held Appalachian to just a .135 hitting clip as the visitors tied the match at 1-1 with a 30-24 victory.
With the home team up 29-25, the visitors used a 4-0 run to tie the third game at 29. The Mountaineers took advantage of two-straight Eagle errors for a 31-29 win and 2-1 match lead. ASU rolled in game four, holding GSU to a -.061 hitting percentage for a 30-14 win and 3-1 match-victory.
Lewis added 11 kills and a .381 hitting clip, while Thomas led the way with 17 kills and a .586 hitting percentage and Durham chipped in 14 kills. Junior Brittany Zahn (Charlotte, N.C.) added 11. Junior setter Lorelle Rau (Oakland Park, Fla.) dished out 53 assists in the win, and freshman Cassie Engelgau (Lake Arrowhead, Calif.) and senior Rachel Gates (Hanover, Pa.) anchored the defense with 15 and 12 digs, respectively.
Sophomore Christy Dowd put up a double-double for Georgia Southern with 17 kills and 16 digs, both team highs. Senior Jennifer Charles added 11 kills, while sophomore Mae Chabra dished out 39 assists. Senior libero Staci Anderson recorded 12 digs and freshman Natalie Rodriguez added 10.
The Mountaineers hit the road as they face the College of Charleston, Saturday, October 21 at 2 p.m. and The Citadel, Sunday, October 22 at 2 p.m. ASU's last loss came to the Cougars when the two teams met on September 23 at the Holmes Center. The Eagles take on Davidson next at Davidson at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 15.