Western Carolina 3, Georgia Southern 2
Statesboro, Ga. ? Led by 20 kills by junior Meredith Harmon ? including six in the decisive game five alone ? the Western Carolina Catamount volleyball team burst into the win column in Southern Conference play, winning a five-game thriller over the Georgia Southern Eagles, 3-2 (30-27, 17-30, 20-30, 30-22, 16-14) Sunday afternoon at the Hanner Field House.
It was the second-time this season that Harmon has reached the 20-kill plateau and the win snapped Western’s six-match losing skid to Georgia Southern.
“To get our first conference win on the road against a tough Georgia Southern team is great and should do nothing but help build our confidence,” said head coach Stephanie Dragan. “Meredith Harmon put us on her shoulders down the stretch and refused to let us lose today. She played brilliantly, as did Brittany (Johnson) and Katie (Hennessey) was passing nails.”
Harmon hit a match-high .389 in recording her 20 kills, which is two shy of her career-high set earlier this season versus High Point. Joining the Villa Hills, Ky., native in double figures was freshman middle Brittny Johnson who hammered home 15, adding a team-high four blocks at the net. Seniors Heather Koontz and Krista Neumann just missed double-digits tallying eight kills apiece in the win.
Freshman setter Katie Hennessey dished out 45 assists for WCU, while her classmate Liz Rondone recorded 26 digs with senior Meghan Boyle tallying 19 digs.
Western (5-16, 1-4 SoCon) raced out to the early lead in the match with a 30-27 win in game one, out-hitting GSU .308-to-.227 with 19 kills en route to the victory. But the Eagles (8-5, 2-3 SoCon) rallied back with two convincing victories in games two and three, 30-17 and 30-20, holding Western’s offense to (-.023) and .000, respectively.
Down two games to one, the Catamounts rallied to force the decisive game five with a 30-22 win in game four. WCU broke open a 2-2 tie and would eventually lead by as many as nine, 19-to-10, to cruise to the game victory.
In game five, Western fell behind 5-to-1 plagued by two attacking errors and could not capitalize on a GSU service error, falling down 6-2 and forcing Dragan to call a timeout. After the stoppage, the Eagles managed a block to run the lead to five, 7-2, before the Catamounts rallied. Behind the serve of Boyle, Western clawed back with three-straight points including an ace, a Harmon kill, and a Harmon/Hennessey block.
But Georgia Southern countered, breaking WCU’s serve and pulling back out by four, 9-to-5 before Harmon put one down to bring the Cats back within three, 9-to-6, and start a six-point rally behind the serve of senior Kate Willard. Harmon recorded three-consecutive kills, broken up by an Eagle timeout, but when the dust had settled, Western led 12-to-9. But again Georgia Southern rallied, pulling even at 14. However, after a Johnson kill, Hennessey put the finishing touches on the match with a service ace winner.
Georgia Southern had four players reach double-figures in kills including a match-high-tying 20 from Christy Dowd. Defensively, Mae Chabra had 30 digs, while Natalie Rodriguez recorded 22 in the loss, which is the Eagles’ second league loss in a row.
“This is tough for us because we fought so hard last night and this afternoon and we came up short both times,” said first-year Georgia Southern head coach, Nicole McCray. “Again, it comes down to the little things and Western Carolina made some great plays in crunch time and was able to finish a well fought match between both teams.”
Western Carolina returns to action this weekend, hosting the College of Charleston on Friday, Oct. 6 at 7:00 pm and on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 2:00 pm. Both matches will be played on-campus in the Ramsey Center.
UNC Greensboro 3, Davidson 2
GREENSBORO, NC ? Senior Theresa Hart had a match-high 25 kills and 24 digs to lead UNC Greensboro to a 3-2 victory over Davidson in Southern Conference women’s volleyball action Sunday afternoon at Fleming Gym. The win marks the Spartans second straight over the Wildcats dating back to last season.
UNCG (12-7, 3-4 SoCon) held on for the win over Davidson by the scores of 30-27, 28-30, 30-25, 26-30, 15-11.
Along with Hart’s effort, sophomore Kaitlyn Nortz had 16 kills on a .342 hitting percentage and had nine block assists on the defensive side, which left her one short of the school record for a five-game match.
Junior Lauren Keiser had 11 kills for the Spartans, while freshman Branagan Fuller added 10 kills in the win. Additionally, sophomore Liz Benzschawel had eight kills on an effective .471 percentage.
Freshman Catherine Hanners continued her stellar play with 21 digs, while freshman Lisa Fawell dished out 61 assists for the Spartans.
Liz Williamson led Davidson (10-9, 2-2 SoCon) with 24 kills, while Kittery Neale and Katie Pierucci had 11 and 10 kills respectively. Jenna Dykstra had 55 assists.
The fifth game mirrored the entire match with eight ties, the last coming at 10-10 off a kill by Hart that erased the final Davidson lead of the afternoon. Hart followed with a second straight kill and then a service ace by Fawell forced the Wildcat bench to call a timeout, trailing 12-10. After a UNCG attack error made it 12-11, back-to-back attack errors by Davidson set up the winning point, which ultimately wound up being an ace by Hart to close out the win.
The opening match saw Davidson take a couple short leads, but UNCG continued to answer back. With the game tied 20-20, UNCG ran off five straight points with Keiser serving for a 25-20 lead. The Wildcats got back to within one point, 27-26, but two of Hart’s eight kills in the game and an attack error by the visitors sealed the victory for the Spartans, 30-27.
Davidson held a narrow lead for most of game two and took what seemed to be a comfortable 27-21 lead late in the action. A 7-2 run by UNCG, capped off by a Fuller kill, made it 29-28, but Williamson, who had five kills in game two, closed any thoughts of a comeback with a kill of her own to square the match at 1-1 with a 30-28 win.
After the intermission, both teams traded points until it was tied 17-17 for the final time of game three. Again with Keiser serving, the Spartans put together a 7-0 spurt to take what ended up being an insurmountable
24-17 lead. Four Davidson attack errors and one ball handling error fueled the run. UNCG held on for the 30-25 lead.
The Spartans seemed ready to win the match in four games as they led for the better part of game four. Up 21-16 after a Nortz ace, Davidson responded with a 9-1 run to take a 25-22 lead. UNCG fought back and actually took a 26-25 lead on another timely kill by Fuller, but a Courtney Cron ace put the Wildcats back in front for good 27-26 and they would go on to the 30-26 win in game four.
UNCG is off until next Saturday when the Spartans visit conference rival Georgia Southern in Statesboro.