Elon 3, Chattanooga 0
ELON, N.C. ? The Elon Phoenix used 12 total blocks, 11 service errors, a .333 hitting percentage and 16 kills from Britany Westphal to down the Chattanooga Lady Mocs 3-0 (30-18, 30-20, 30-23) in Southern Conference volleyball action on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
Westphal posted a .464 hitting percentage with just three errors on 28 attacks and also tallied three aces. Juliena Gigon paced the defense with 15 digs and six blocks while also adding three service aces and nine kills with no errors on 14 attempts for a .643 hitting percentage. Emily Lucci posted nine kills, three service aces and six total blocks while Emily Downing also recorded six blocks and added seven kills. Brooke Pickard tallied 10 digs for the Phoenix while Natalie Moore posted 24 assists and Emily Regan added 18.
Kari Wiedinger paced the Lady Mocs with 12 kills and Leslee Ball added seven. Kelsey Amundson led the defense with 11 digs and Lara Newberry added 10. Michaela Huff posted 34 assists for the Lady Mocs. Chattanooga registered just a .096 hitting percentage for the match.
In game one, Elon (11-12, 8-4 SoCon) took an early lead and led by eight at 14-6 before Chattanooga tallied the next four points to close the lead to four at 14-10. But Elon again extended the lead to eight at 21-13 on a block by Gigon and Westphal. Elon pushed the lead to 12 at 28-16 on a block by Lucci and Downing before closing the game 30-18 on a Downing kill.
Elon took an early 8-2 lead in the second game before Chattanooga used a 4-0 run to cut the lead to two at 8-6. Elon then went on a 7-2 run to go ahead by seven at 15-8. The Lady Mocs would get within four points, but Elon took again took an eight-point lead at 24-16 on a kill from Westphal. Elon extended its lead to 11 at 28-17 on a kill from Jessica Barrow and finished the game 30-20 on a solo block by Lucci.
Chattanooga (10-14, 8-4) took an early 6-4 lead in the third game before Elon knotted the game 8-8 on a service ace from Gigon. Elon took the lead out of the tie on another ace from Gigon and held onto the advantage. Elon pushed the lead to three a 14-11 and used a 6-0 run behind the serve of Lucci to go up by nine at 20-11. The Phoenix maintained the lead and closed the game 30-23 on a Westphal kill.
Elon returns to action on Friday, Oct. 27 in a 7 p.m. match at Appalachian State. Chattanooga travels to Davidson for a 6 p.m. match on Tuesday, Oct. 24.
Appalachian State 3, The Citadel 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Appalachian State University volleyball hit at a .408 mark and held its opponent to a .000 hitting percentage, as it defeated The Citadel, 3-0 (30-17, 30-18, 30-15), in Southern Conference play Sunday at McAlister Field House.
The Mountaineers improve to 10-2 in the conference and 17-8 overall, while the Bulldogs drop to 1-11 in the league and 8-18 on the season.
Appalachian bounced back after having its eight-match winning streak snapped Saturday at the College of Charleston.
Several freshmen had career days for ASU, as Becca Norris (Franklin,
N.C.) recorded career-highs with nine kills and three service aces and Heather Kale (Greensboro, N.C.) tallied a match and career-high nine digs.
Appalachian out-hit its opponent with 55 kills compared to 22 and dug up 10 more attacks with 43 digs compared to 33. Junior Dianna Thomas (Mobile, Ala.) led the offensive attack with 13 kills, while classmate Brittany Zahn (Charlotte, N.C.) added 12 and sophomore Carla Durham (Dallas, Ga.) chipped in 10.
Defensively, Kale led the way with nine digs, while fellow freshman Cassie Engelgau (Lake Arrowhead, Calif.) added seven and junior Lorelle Rau (Oakland Park, Fla.) recorded six. Rau dished out 37 assists in the win. Freshman Kayla Anderson tallied six assists in half a game at setter.
The Citadel was led by Rachel Sanders with eight kills. Ashley Winter anchored the defense with nine digs, while Emily Hill compiled 17 assists. Hill added two service aces.
Outsider hitter Ashley Fliehr (Charlotte, N.C.) opened the first game with three kills on three attempts and her counterpart, Zahn added three kills on four attempts in the first full rotation as ASU jumped out to a 16-10 lead. Another Fliehr kill and two-consecutive Bulldog errors led to a 19-12 ASU lead and at timeout by The Citadel.
Appalachian outscored The Citadel, 10-5 after the timeout. Zahn and Fliehr each finished with six kills in the game as ASU went on to a
30-17 game win.
Behind two kills by Thomas, the Mountaineers jumped out to a 6-1 lead in game two. The Bulldogs battled back with two kills by Sanders and two service aces by Emily Hill to pull within one at 6-5. A 5-0 run behind the serving of Fliehr boosted ASU’s lead to 12-7. The Bulldogs cut the lead to just two at 13-11 off an ace by Samantha Parisi, but three-consecutive ASU points gave the visitors a five-point, 16-11 lead back.
After another Bulldog point, The Mountaineers scored three more unanswered points and forced a timeout by The Citadel with a 19-13 lead.
After the timeout, ASU extended its run to 8-0 with Norris at the service line. With Appalachian leading 26-16, Norris recorded two kills in the final three points as ASU went on to a 30-18 victory in game two and a 2-0 match lead. Thomas and Norris each recorded four kills in the game.
The Mountaineers used five kills, two by Norris to open game three with an 8-0 lead. The Citadel put three points on the board to make it 9-3.
From that point, Norris served back-to-back aces as ASU took a 10-point,
13-3 lead, forcing a timeout by the home team. The Citadel scored right out of the timeout, but solid serving by Charissa Clearman (Austin,
Texas) and setting by Rau led to a 7-0 run and 20-4 lead.
With ASU leading 21-6, The Citadel went on a run of its own, scoring four-straight to make the score 21-10. Appalachian took advantage of The Citadel’s errors down the stretch, going on to a 30-15 game three win and 3-0 match victory.
The Mountaineers return to Boone for their final homestand of the season as they host Elon, Friday, October 27 at 7 p.m. and UNC Greensboro, Saturday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the Holmes Center.
Georgia Southern 3, Wofford 2
STATESBORO, Ga. ? The Georgia Southern volleyball team rallied in the fifth game to beat Wofford 3-2 (30-14, 24-30, 30-26, 25-30, 17-15) and pick up its ninth win of the season.
Jennifer Charles led the Eagles offensively, tallying 17 kills in the five-game match ? six in the first game alone. Bailey Coleman added 11 kills to bring Georgia Southern to 52 on the day.
But it was the Eagle defense won the match. Jennifer Schenk had three solo blocks, including the match-winner off of an attack by Wofford’s Sarah Twitty. Charles added one solo block and eight block assists. Collectively, the Eagles notched 17.5 team blocks on the day ? a season high for the squad.
Georgia Southern added 10 service aces to Wofford’s four. Charles and Mae Chabra each had three aces, while Flavia Pereira recorded two. Libero Staci Anderson had 24 digs, 11 of which came in the third game. Anderson now has 248 digs on the season.
The Eagles look to continue winning as they head to Western Carolina and Chattanooga next weekend.
College of Charleston 3, Davidson 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Tiffany Blum paced the College of Charleston with .375 hitting as the Cougars defeated Davidson 3-1 (30-25, 28-30, 30-20, 30-19) in Southern Conference volleyball action.
Davidson (14-12, 6-5 SoCon) salvaged a sweep as the Wildcats held Charleston to .109 hitting in the second game, but Charleston’s offense hit .441 in game one, .258 in game three and .278 in game four.
Emily Sawin had a match-high 19 kills for the Cougars (16-6, 10-1 SoCon), hitting a .279 clip. She added eight digs and two blocks. Annie Uthe followed with 16 kills on .345 hitting. She had a match-high three service aces, three blocks and two digs.
Blum had 13 kills and five blocks. Marie Dobrenz came up with 21 digs and Alexis Lowes followed with 14. Lindsey Kane, who hit .364, had 53 assists, nine digs and five kills.
Davidson’s Alison Dwyer hit a match-high .467 on eight kills, and Liz Williamson netted 15 kills, followed by Katie Pierucci with 12 and Kittery Neale with 11.
Charleston hit .250 for the match, while Davidson was held to .145 hitting.
The Cougars travel to Upstate rivals Wofford on Oct. 28 and Furman on Oct. 29.