College of Charleston 3, Wofford 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Wofford volleyball team had the lead early in the first game, but couldn’t contain the first-place College of Charleston Cougars who pounded their way to a 3-0 (30-24, 30-14, 30-19) victory Friday night in Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Annie Uthe led the way for the Cougars, finishing with 12 kills, a .474 hitting percentage and five blocks (two solo), all team highs.
The Cougars (17-6, 11-1) had eight total blocks on the night thanks to Uthe, Tiffany Blum and Sarah Voss, who each had three block assists.
This trio also led the Cougars offensively as Voss finished with 10 kills and a .304 hitting percentage, tying Blum for the second-highest clip of the night. Blum notched nine kills on 23 attempts in addition to her three blocks.
The Cougars’ Marie Dobrenz also contributed to the offensive effort, totalling 23 kills and four service aces.
The Terriers (6-17, 1-13) jumped out to a quick lead in the first game thanks to the serving skills of Lisa Lindemenn. Lindemenn notched two service aces in the match, her 31st and 32nd of the season. Lindemenn is currently on top of the Southern Conference standings in service aces, averaging 0.59 per game.
Senior Shana Glenn continued her solid defensive play to lead Wofford with 18 digs on the night. She has recorded double digit digs in her last four matches and owns the team lead with 248 on the season, surpassing her 2005 total of 233.
Lindsey Richardson and Sarah Twitty finished with seven kills apiece for Wofford. Twitty holds on to the team lead with 216 kills on the season, while Richardson upped her season total to 127. Richardson is hitting .205 so far this season.
Setter Joanna Suddath served up 26 assists, marking the 16th consecutive match in which the freshman has had at least 20 assists.
The Terriers will take on another conference rival out of Charleston, The Citadel, tomorrow night at 6 p.m. in Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Appalachian State 3, Elon 1
BOONE, N.C. ? Junior Dianna Thomas (Mobile, Ala.) recorded her first career double-double with 18 kills and a career-high 10 digs as the Appalachian State University volleyball team defeated Elon, 3-1 (30-24, 28-30, 30-13, 25-30), in Southern Conference play, Friday at the Holmes Center.
The Mountaineers remain in second place in the league at 11-2 and 18-8 overall, while Elon drops into a tie for fourth at 8-5 in the SoCon and 11-13 on the season. Serving proved to be the difference for the Mountaineers as they committed a season-low three service errors while serving a season-high 12 aces. The Phoenix committed 13 service errors and tallied just three aces.
Thomas got off to a solid start with nine kills in game one, while fellow juniors Lorelle Rau (Oakland Park, Fla.) and Brittany Zahn (Charlotte, N.C.) each recorded two service aces. With the match tied at 13, Zahn served eight-straight points, including two aces to take a 20-14 lead. ASU went on to a 30-24 win in the opening game.
The Mountaineers put together a slight comeback, down 29-25 in game two. But Juliena Gigon put away a Natalie Moore assist to break ASU’s three-point run and take a 30-28 victory to tie the match at one game apiece. Brittany Westphal led the Phoenix with 11 of the team’s 20 kills in the game.
Senior Chrissy Finch (Lake Zurich, Ill.) recorded five kills and Appalachian hit at a .667 mark, while holding Elon to a .000 hitting percentage in game three as the home team picked up a 30-13 victory to take a 2-1 match-lead.
Zahn, Thomas and sophomore Carla Durham (Dallas, Ga.) each recorded five kills and freshman Cassie Engelgau (Lake Arrowhead, Calif.) dug up eight Elon attacks as ASU finished off the match with a 30-25 game four victory for a 3-1 win.
Thomas added six block assists and a service ace to her solid night. Durham, Zahn and Finch joined Thomas in double-digit kills with 13, 12 and 10, respectively. Finch added a double-double of her own with 14 digs. Finch and Zahn each led the match with four service aces, while Durham put up six blocks.
Senior Rachel Gates (Hanover, Pa.) anchored the ASU defense with 17 digs, while Engelgau added 15. Freshman Heather Kale (Greensboro, N.C.) tied her career-high with nine digs. Senior Amy Lewis (Chesnee, S.C.) added to the defensive effort with seven block assists, chipping in nine kills. Rau dished out 53 assists and recorded three aces in the win.
Westphal recorded a match-high 21 kills for the Phoenix. Stefanie Meyers joined her in double-digits with 12 kills. Brooke Pickard, Gigon and Shelley MacBean anchored the defense with 16, 13 and 11 digs, respectively. Moore dished out 37 of the team’s 49 assists.
Elon travels to Davidson for a 2 p.m. match Saturday, while the Mountaineers conclude their home regular season hosting UNC Greensboro for ?Senior Night,’ Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Holmes Center. Live stats are available at www.GoASU.com .
Furman 3, The Citadel 0
Greenville, S.C. -- Whitney Purser recorded 14 kills, and Furman hit a season-high .477 hitting percentage as the Paladins defeated The Citadel 3-0 on Friday night at Alley Gym. The win marks Furman’s fifth straight victory, and all five wins have been by a 3-0 margin.
Furman recorded 50 kills in the three games, and committed just eight hitting errors in 88 total attempts. Five Paladins had a hitting percentage of .538 or better. Kerry Wooten led the way for Furman with a .667 clip (12-0-18).
Kelsey Salava tallied 29 set assists for Furman, and also added four total blocks. Wooten recorded a game-high five total blocks (one solo), while Nicole Palazzo added four total blocks. Kim Tonkin notched a game-high 13 defensive saves for the Paladins and also added three service aces.
Samantha Parisi recorded a team-high eight kills and nine digs for The Citadel. Emily Hill tallied 20 set assists, and Rachel Sanders added two total blocks.
With the win, Furman improves to 14-9 overall, 10-2 in the Southern Conference. The Citadel falls to 9-19 on the season, 1-12 in conference action. Furman returns to action on Saturday as the Paladins play host to conference leading College of Charleston.
Davidson 3, UNCG 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? Senior outside hitter Liz Williamson posted 17 kills, and sophomore middle blocker Kittery Neale added 12, as the pair led the Davidson Wildcats to a 3-0 (30-24, 30-23, 30-21) sweep over the UNC Greensboro Spartans on Friday night in Southern Conference volleyball action at Belk Arena.
Davidson improves to 16-12 overall and 8-5 in SoCon play, while Greensboro falls to 17-10 and an even 7-7 in the conference.
Senior setter Jenna Dykstra notched 32 assists in the three-game match, bringing her career total to 3,820 assists, just seven shy of claiming the all-time record. Holt Hathaway (1988-91) is Davidson's current all-time assists record holder with 3,826.
The Wildcats outhit the Spartans .259 to just .036 and held a 44-29 advantage in kills, though Greensboro took 112 attempts to 108 for Davidson.
Williamson and Neale were the only players to reach double-digits in kills for either team. Branagan Fuller led the Spartans with six kills, while three Greensboro players had five. Greensboro's Catherine Hanners led the defensive with a match-high 14 digs, while junior Lindsey Woeste totaled 10 to pace the Cats on the floor.
The Cats used a couple of four-point runs to jump out to a 19-9 lead in the first game, and though the Spartans managed to shrink the gap to 25-20, that lead proved enough for the 30-24 victory. Neal led Davidson with four kills in the game that, though Davidson hit just .100 as a team, was never really in question.
Davidson came out firing in game two, taking an early 5-1 lead and rolling to an easy 30-23 victory behind eight kills from Williamson and 12 assists from Dykstra. The Wildcats outhit the Spartans .317 to .000 in the game to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Game three was the tightest of the trio, with the score knotted eight times as possession went back-and-forth early. But holding a slim 12-11 edge, Davidson put together a five-point run behind the serve of Dykstra to pull ahead 17-11, putting the game away for good. The ?Cats outhit the Spartans
.407 to .182, in what turned into the most lopsided of the games, for a
30-21 victory.
The Cats will host Elon (11-13, 8-5) tomorrow at 2 p.m. on senior day as head coach Tim Cowie honors Dykstra, Williamson and senior defensive specialist Lisa Cuellar in pre-game festivities.