Chattanooga 3, UNCG 0
GREENSBORO, NC ? The UNC Greensboro volleyball team lost 3-0 to Southern Conference rival Chattanooga on Saturday night at Fleming Gymnasium. The Lady Mocs won by scores of 32-30, 30-27 and 30-24.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Nortz led the Spartans with 14 kills, while senior Theresa Hart finished with 11 kills and 13 digs. Freshman Lisa Fawell dished out 42 assists and classmate Catherine Hanners had 17 digs for UNCG.
Julianna Martinez had 12 kills for the Lady Mocs. Jamie Engel finished with nine and Sarah Bass and Kari Wiedinger both added eight kills for UTC.
Michaela Huff handed out 34 assists and libero Lara Newberry had a game-high 18 digs.
In the first game, the Spartans jumped to an early 10-6 lead and led by as much as seven at one point. But the Lady Mocs slowly came back and tied the game up at 27 after a Martinez kill. The teams would go back and forth but after a couple of Spartan ball handling errors, the Lady Mocs took the 32-30 win.
The teams played in a close game two that saw 13 ties. Nortz rattled off four kills in the early parts of the game that gave the Spartans a 10-6 lead. Chattanooga came back after a handful of Spartan attack errors and kept the game close. The Lady Mocs would put the game away after another kill by Martinez to win game two, 30-27.
UTC led by as much as six early in game three and never looked back. The Spartans pulled within two at the 22-20 mark after a service ace from Hanners but the Lady Mocs finished game three with seven kills including the game-winning point off a kill by Leslee Ball to take game three, 30-24.
UNCG travels to Davidson to take on the Wildcats in a SoCon match-up on Oct. 27. Game time set for 7 pm.
College of Charleston 3, Appalachian State 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Sarah Voss and Lindsey Kane paced the College of Charleston volleyball squad with .625 hitting as the Cougars defeated Appalachian State 3-0 (30-14, 30-17, 30-22) in Southern Conference action on Saturday at John Kresse Arena.
Charleston (15-6, 9-1) hit a .429 clip as a team to win Game 1, 30-14, as Kane was 3-for-3, followed by three ? Tiffany Blum, Emily Sawin and Annie Uthe ? who hit .500. Appalachian State hit .000 as the Mountaineers (16-8, 9-2) tallied nine errors.
The game was knotted 5-5 in Game 2 before the Cougars handed Appalachian State a loss with their 25-12 run. Charleston hit .517 with Voss’ 4-for-4 outing, while the Mountaineers hit .148.
With the game tied on four occasions, Appalachian State found a way to break the tie until the final knot, 16-16, of the game. Charleston had 14-6 run to close out the match.
For the match, Charleston hit .370, and Appalachian State hit - .020.
Voss had a match-high 11 kills, followed by Emily Sawin with 10. Blum had eight blocks, and Marie Dobrenz anchored the defense with 10 digs.
Charleston hosts Davidson at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and Appalachian State will take on The Citadel at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Elon 3, Western Carolina 0
ELON, N.C. ? Britany Westphal and Jessica Barrow tallied 15 and 13 kills, respectively, to lead the Elon Phoenix to a 3-0 win over Western Carolina in Southern Conference volleyball action on Saturday night in Alumni Gym. Elon won the games by scores of 30-20, 30-24 and 30-22.
The Phoenix recorded only nine hitting errors in the match to post a .318 hitting percentage while also tallying nine total blocks. Westphal posted a .344 hitting percentage with 15 only four errors on 32 attempts while Barrow tallied just one error on 36 attempts to record a .333 hitting percentage while also recording five service aces. Brooke Pickard paced the Elon defense with 16 kills and Juliena Gigon added 14 digs along with seven total blocks. Natalie Moore posted 30 assists for Elon.
Heather Koontz led the Catamounts (6-23, 2-11 SoCon) with 14 kills while Meredith Harmon tallied nine kills. Liz Rondone paced the defense with 21 kills and Meghan Boyle added 10 while Katie Hennessey posted 31 assists.
After a 4-4 tie in game one, Elon scored the next four points behind the serve of Barrow to go ahead 8-4. The Catamounts stayed within four points until the Phoenix used an 8-2 run to close the game 30-20. Elon posted a .333 hitting percentage in the game, compared to a .093 percentage for WCU.
Elon (10-12, 7-4 SoCon) took an early lead in the second game and led by as much as four before WCU knotted the game at 15-15. After a 16-16 tie, Elon took the lead and pushed the advantage to eight at 29-21. The Catamounts tallied the next three points to get within five at 29-24, but Elon used a Westphal kill to end the game 30-24.
In game three, Elon took an early edge and never looked back. The Catamounts stayed within three points until Elon used a 7-2 run to close the game 30-22 and take the match. Elon hit .364 in the game with only four errors and 16 kills on 33 attempts.
Elon returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 22 in a 2 p.m. match with Chattanooga in Alumni Gym. Western Carolina is next in action on Tuesday, Oct. 24 in a home match against Wofford beginning at 7 p.m.
Davidson 3, The Citadel 1
Charleston, S.C. ? One school record was set and two players set career highs as The Citadel dropped a close 3-1 match to the Davidson Wildcats Saturday night in McAlister Field House. The Bulldogs took the first game but Davidson won the next three to clinch the match victory. Game scores were 21-30, 30-26, 30-23 and 30-19.
Sophomore Rachel Sanders broke her own school record of 56 attack attempts as she swung a record-high 58 times. Sanders led The Citadel with 17 kills in the match. Meanwhile, senior Samantha Parisi recorded a career and season high 24 digs, leading all players, as she inched closer to the coveted 1,000 career dig mark. Parisi now has 981 digs in her career and is only 19 away from becoming only the second Bulldog Spiker in school history to reach that mark. Sophomore Ashley Winter also set a career high in digs, recording 21 on the night.
Davidson was led by a powerful Liz Williamson who notched 22 kills as she hit .273 in the match. Williamson recorded a double-double as she also recorded 16 digs. Both Sanders (17 kills, 16 digs) and Parisi (11 kills, 24 digs) recorded double-doubles for The Citadel.
The Bulldogs set a season high nine total blocks in the match, including a block solo from Emily Hill, the 5’6 setter from Cypress, Texas. Senior Kim Cooper led all players with one block solo and three block assists.
The Citadel came out on all cylinders in the first game, taking home the 30-21 win. Parisi had a tremendous nine digs in the first game to go along with her four kills. Williamson recorded four kills in the first game for Davidson.
The Citadel held close with Davidson in a tough game two that saw five tie scores and two lead changes. The two teams were tied at 24 before Davidson rattled off three quick points that was capped off by a Kittery Neale kill. A Sanders kill, followed by a Davidson attack error, pulled the Bulldogs within one at the 27-26 mark, but three consecutive kills for Davidson by Neale, setter Jenna Dykstra and Emily Mims sealed the Bulldogs’ fate in the second set as The Citadel fell, 30-26.
Sanders began to catch fire for The Citadel in the third game, as she led the team with five kills, but Davidson’s Williamson and Katie Pierucci each put down six kills as Davidson’s .302 hitting percentage in the game led them to the 30-23 victory. The Citadel swung for a .222 hitting percentage in the game.
Davidson used that momentum to jump out to a quick 16-9 lead in the fourth game before The Citadel began to fight back. However, three Pierucci kills in the final four points put Davidson over the top as the Wildcats sealed the match victory with a 30-19 game four victory.
“Tonight was a disappointing ending to a hard fought match,” said head coach Carolyn Geiger. “Game one saw what we are capable of and games two, three and four showed that we need to learn to adjust better. Everyone played with heart and desire tonight and everyone made a contribution, which is something I have been waiting for.”
The Citadel returns to action as they host Appalachian State on Sunday, Oct. 22 in McAlister Field House. First serve is set for 2 p.m. and the match will be video streamed live on Bulldog Insider at CitadelSports.com. For complete coverage of Bulldog Volleyball, visit the official home of The Citadel Athletics at CitadelSports.com.