Volleyball Southern Conference

SoCon Volleyball Action from Friday Night

Furman 3, Georgia Southern 0

STATESBORO, Ga. ? The Furman Paladins posted a .314 hitting percentage and recorded 10 team blocks to down the Eagles 3-0 (30-27, 30-28, 30-28) Saturday night.  The Paladins improve to 13-9 overall (9-2 in SoCon play), while Georgia Southern falls to 8-10 (2-8).
 
Gorana Bacic led the Eagle offense, tallying 11 kills, followed by Jennifer Charles with 10.  Christy Dowd posted one solo block and Bacic, Charles, Mae Chabra and Amy Haines each added a block assist a piece. 
 
But it was the Paladin defense that held the Eagles.  Nicole Palazzo notched seven block assists and also led the Furman offense with 16 kills.  Palazzo hit .483 on the night, recording only two attack errors.
 
The Eagles will try to snap a seven-match losing streak Sunday as Wofford comes to town.  Match time is set for 2 p.m. at Hanner Fieldhouse.

 

 

UNCG 3, Western Carolina 0

GREENSBORO, NC ?The UNC Greensboro women’s volleyball team earned its seventh conference win with the 3-0 win over Western Carolina in Southern Conference volleyball action on Friday night at Fleming Gymnasium. The Spartans won by scores of 30-26, 30-19 and 30-19.

 

Senior Theresa Hart led UNCG with 12 kills and 18 digs, while junior Lauren Keiser tallied seven kills for the Spartans. Sophomore Kaitlyn Nortz, senior Hilary Overby and freshman Branagan Fuller all finished with six kills for UNCG.

 

Freshman Catherine Hanners had 18 digs and freshman Lisa Fawell handed out

38 assists for the Spartans.

 

Lauren Brown led Western Carolina (6-22, 2-10 SoCon) with 10 kills and teammate Heather Koontz added seven for the Catamounts. Liz Rondone led the Catamount defense with 17 digs. Meghan Boyle added 13 and Katie Hennessey finished with 10 digs and dished out 18 assists for Western Carolina.

 

The Catamounts grabbed an early lead over UNCG (17-8, 7-5 SoCon) in game one and the two teams played a close first set that saw eight ties in the game. After a 23-23 tie, the Spartans took the lead for good with the help from the strong Spartan blocking force of Nortz, Fuller and sophomore Liz Benzschawel. Up 29-26, Benzschawel took a feed from Fawell to put down a kill and close the game 30-26.

 

In game two, UNCG grabbed an early 10-4 lead that included four kills from Nortz. The Catamounts came within two at the 18-16 mark but the Spartans rattled off 12 of the games 15 final points to take the game 30-19. Fuller finished game two with three kills and a .600 hitting percentage.

 

The two teams played in a close third game that saw four ties in the first half. It wasn’t until after a kill by Hart at the 16-13 mark that the Spartans took control. UNCG scored the games next nine points and

never looked back, taking the final game by a score of 30-19.

 

UNCG takes on Chattanooga Saturday night in a 7 pm match-up in the Fleming Gym. Western Carolina goes over to Elon on Saturday to take on the Phoenix.

Game set for 6 pm.