Davidson 3, Chattanooga 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? After getting in a two-game hole, the Davidson Wildcats battled back to outlast the Chattanooga Mocs in a marathon five-game match (25-30, 20-30, 30-28, 30-24, 18-16) in Southern Conference volleyball action Tuesday night at Belk Arena.
With the win, the Cats improve to 15-12 overall and 7-5 in the conference, while Chattanooga falls to 10-15 overall and 8-5 in SoCon play.
Already trailing two games, the Wildcats behind 28-24 in game three, and facing elimination in the match, when the 'Cats ran off six straight points behind the serve of sophomore middle blocker Kittery Neale to survive with a
30-28 victory.
The turning point of the match, the 'Cats battled for every ball from then on, picking up a hard-fought 30-24 victory in game four, and then surviving four match points in game five before finally winning an exciting 18-16 decision.
With the match even at two games apiece, Chattanooga jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the decisive game five. A kill from junior outside hitter Katie Pierucci narrowed the Mocs edge to 13-14, as the ?Cats avoided their first match-ending point. Senior defensive specialist Lisa Cuella followed with one of her three service aces to knot the score at 14, and the 'Cats avoided their second.
After a Chattanooga timeout, Leslee Ball gave the 15-14 advantage back to the Mocs, but a ball handling error on her teammate Michaela Huff evened the score once again at 15. Ball committed the second consecutive Moc error to give Davidson a 16-15 lead, but the Moc's Jamie Engel put the next ball away allowing Chattanooga to knot the score at 16.
Senior outside hitter Liz Williamson posted her 21st kill of the match to give the Cats a 17-16 advantage, before the third error on Chattanooga this time an attack error on Kari Wiedinger, lifted Davidson to the nailbiting 18-16 victory for the match.
Four Wildcat hitters finished the match with double-digit kills, as Williamson led both teams with 21 to go along with 11 digs on the defensive end. Pierucci posted a double-double of her own with 17 kills and 18 digs, while sophomore middle blocker Alison Dwyer posted 12 kills and Neale chipped in 10.
Senior setter Jenna Dykstra added 51 assists to bring her career total up to
3,788 just 39 shy of the all-time assists record.
Ball led the Mocs with 17 kills, while Wiedinger chipped in 16 and Engel added 12.
The Wildcats return to action this weekend, hosting SoCon foes UNC Greensboro (Fri., 7 p.m.) and Elon (Sat., 2 p.m.).
The Citadel 3, South Carolina State 0
Charleston, S.C. ? Sophomore Rachel Sanders and senior Samantha Parisi each recorded double-doubles Tuesday night as The Citadel swept past South Carolina State, 3-0, in McAlister Field House. Sanders’ 13 kills and 11 digs led all players. Sophomore Ashley Winter tied a career high with four service aces on the night. Game scores were 30-12, 30-18 and 30-23.
The Citadel (9-18, 1-11 Southern) now leads the all-time series, 8-3. Despite that domination, Tuesday night’s sweep was the first time The Citadel recorded a sweep over S.C. State. Only one other sweep as occurred in the series history, as South Carolina State (12-17, 2-7 MEAC) took a 3-0 win against The Citadel in 2000.
Parisi recorded 12 kills and 10 digs in her eighth double-double performance of the year. The senior from Thessaloniki, Greece has now recorded 994 digs in her career, just six shy of becoming only the second player in the school’s history to record 1,000 digs. Nicole Mantu (’03) is the only person to date to record 1,000 or more digs in her career, holding the school record with 1,035 digs in her four-year span at The Citadel.
Only once before has Ashley Winter recorded four service aces in a match, notching that mark on Sept. 8, 2006 against Savannah State in another 3-0 rout for the Bulldogs. Winter, the libero from Fontana, Calif., recorded 11 digs on the night. As a whole, The Citadel served up nine aces in the match.
The Citadel outhit South Carolina State in the match, holding SCSU to a .000 hitting percentage in the match. The Bulldog Spikers hit .225 on the match, putting down 47 kills throughout the three games.
Sophomore Emily Hill orchestrated the Cadet offense; recording 31 assists while making nine digs. Hill hit .500 in the match, recording five kills and no errors on 10 attempts. Freshman Taylor Stanke recorded nine kills and four block assists.
Tuesday night’s match in McAlister Field House marked the final non-conference match for The Citadel as the Bulldogs head to the upstate of South Carolina for a pair of conference matches. The Citadel will take on Furman (13-9, 9-2 SoCon) on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. The Citadel then travels to Spartanburg to face Wofford on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m.
Western Carolina 3, Wofford 0
Cullowhee, N.C. ? Senior Heather Koontz led Western Carolina with a match-high 14 kills and freshman Liz Rondone surpassed the 30-dig plateau for the fifth-time this season as the Catamount volleyball team swept the Wofford Terriers, 3-0 (30-20, 30-28, 31-29) Tuesday night in Southern Conference action at the Ramsey Center.
With the win, the Catamounts earned their second three-game victory of the season, both coming against the Terriers in completing the seasonal sweep.
“Tonight really was a team win with everyone that saw action contributing,” said head coach Stephanie Dragan. “We had a great crowd tonight and we really fed off them when we needed that extra push, especially when we fell behind in game three. Heather (Koontz) did a great job tonight finishing and Liz (Rondone) continued to show her relentless pursuit to the ball. Reaching 30 digs is a hard thing to do, but she is making it look relatively easy. I also felt that (Amanda) Kerr worked extremely hard at the net and had a strong presence.”
Koontz’ 16 kills give the Rosman, N.C., native back-to-back double-digit outings after tallying 14 at Elon on Saturday. Freshman Amanda Kerr just missed double figures with nine kills on a career-high tying .333 attack percentage, committing just three errors. Kerr added three block assists to lead the squad. Junior Meredith Harmon finished with eight kills on a .312 hitting percentage.
Freshman setter Katie Hennessey recorded the lone double-double of the match, dishing out 32 assists and recording 10 digs in the win. In addition to Hennessey, Rondone led four Catamounts in double-figure digs as seniors Meghan Boyle and Kate Willard finished with 11 and 10, respectively.
Game one saw three ties, all within the first six points. Western (7-23, 3-11 SoCon) broke open the final tie at 3-3 by scoring eight of the next nine points to pull ahead, 11-to-4. The Terriers closed to within one point on three occasions, but a kill by Kerr and three points behind the serve of Koontz propelled WCU back to the lead it would never relinquish, winning 30-20.
Again using the service of Koontz, the Catamounts opened up a tight second game with three-straight points to pull ahead four, 10-6. But Wofford clawed its way back, tying the game at 13 before inching out a two-point advantage, 16-14, its largest of the frame. Using Harmon’s serve, Western scored five unanswered to lead 20-16, and then held off Wofford’s late charge to take a two games to none lead in the match with the 30-28 win.
Game three endured 14 ties and six lead changes, with the final switch concluding the match. With Wofford leading 29-28 and serving game point, Koontz came through with her final kill of the night to knot the score at 29. On consecutive attacking errors by Terrier freshman Courtney Gregory, the Catamounts were able to score the final two points for the win.
Wofford (6-16, 1-12 SoCon) had two players finish with a team-high eight kills in both freshmen Sarah Twitty and Sarah Palmer while a third freshman, setter Joanna Suddath, passed out 22 assists. Defensively, three Terriers reached double digits led by 17 digs from senior Shanna Glenn, with Palmer adding a dozen and sophomore Carolyn Rivers tallying 10 in the loss.
Western Carolina remains at home on Sunday, Oct. 29, to host the Georgia Southern Eagles at 2:00 pm. The Catamounts defeated GSU in Statesboro earlier this season in five games.