College of Charleston 3, Furman 2
Greenville, S.C. -- Emily Swain recorded 18 kills and Marie Dobrenz notched 24 defensive saves as College of Charleston defeated Furman 3-2 (27-30, 30-21, 16-30, 30-20, 17-15) on Saturday afternoon at Alley Gym.
Nicole Palazzo led Furman with 20 kills and 17 total blocks (five solo). The 17 blocks sets a new Furman single-game record. The former record of 13 total blocks was set by Meredith Matkin against Western Carolina on September 9, 1995, and was equalled by Kristin Kiessling against Davidson on October 29, 1995.
Furman placed four players in double-figures in kills, with Palazzo’s 20, followed by Chibuzo Agoucha with 16 kills, and Kerry Wooten and Ally Hock with 12 kills each. The Paladins also had four players reach double-digits in digs, including Kim Tonkin’s team-leading 23 defensive saves. Whitney Purser tallied 18 digs, and Aguocha and Hock each notched 15 digs.
Palazzo led the way at the net with 17 total blocks, while Hock added nine total blocks (one solo). Hock fell just one block short of her first-career triple-double. Setter Courtney Stewardson recorded 60 set assists, marking the sixth time that she has tallied 60 or more assists in a match. Stewardson also added three service aces for the Paladins.
With the win, Charleston improves to 18-6 overall, 12-1 in the Southern Conference. Furman falls to 14-10 on the season, 10-3 in conference action. Furman returns to action on Saturday as the Paladins play host to Appalachian State at 2 p.m. at Alley Gym.
Appalachian State 3, UNCG 0
BOONE, N.C. ? Appalachian State University volleyball concluded its home regular season with a 3-0 (30-24, 30-19, 30-28) victory over UNC Greensboro on ?Senior Night,’ Saturday at the Holmes Center.
The Mountaineers improve to 12-2 in the Southern Conference with the win and 19-8 overall, while the Spartans drop to 7-8 in league play and 17-11 on the season. Appalachian hit at a .254 mark on the night, holding its opponent to a .075 hitting percentage with 11 total blocks.
Senior Chrissy Finch (Lake Zurich, Ill.) came two digs short of a double-double with 11 kills and eight digs. The outside hitter added two solo blocks and a service ace. Junior Dianna Thomas (Mobile, Ala.) led the offensive attack with 12 kills and a .647 hitting percentage, while classmate Brittany Zahn (Charlotte, N.C.) chipped in 10 kills.
Defensively the youngsters left their mark on ?Senior Day’ as Cassie Engelgau (Lake Arrowhead, Calif.) led the team with 19 digs and Heather Kale (Greensboro, N.C.) recorded a career-high 13 digs. Sophomore Carla Durham (Dallas, Ga.) tied her career high with eight block assists.
Junior setter Lorelle Rau (Oakland Park, Fla.) dished out 39 assists and put up seven block assists.
Kaitlyn Nortz led UNC Greensboro with 11 kills, while the defense was anchored by Catherine Hanners with 13 digs. Lisa Fawell dished out 33 of the Spartans’ 37 assists.
Prior to the match seniors Finch, Rachel Gates (Hanover, Pa.) and Amy Lewis (Chesnee, S.C.) were honored for their success at Appalachian.
The Mountaineers hit the road for two more weekends before heading back home to host the Southern Conference Tournament, November 16-19. Next up for Appalachian is Wofford in Spartanburg at 7 p.m. on Friday, November, followed by a 2 p.m. match up with Furman in Greenville on Saturday, November 4.
The Citadel 3, Wofford 2
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Citadel Bulldogs rallied in game five to defeat the Wofford Terrier 3-2 (30-24, 30-27, 21-30, 26-30, 15-6) Saturday night in Benjamin Johnson Arena.
The Terriers (6-18, 1-14) bounced back after losing the first two games to hit .229 and .207 in games three and four to even the match at 2-2. The Citadel (10-19, 2-12) would not be stopped, however, and hit .417 in game five to take the final game and the match.
The Citadel’s Rachel Sanders had a match-best 20 kills against Wofford for a .207 hitting percentage, both team highs.
Emily Hill served up 43 assists for the Bulldogs and recorded 19 digs and five kills.
Wofford’s Lisa Lindemenn stepped in as the setter for the last three games and recorded a season-high 34 assists. Lindemenn also recorded two service aces to bring her season total to a team-leading 34.
Sarah Twitty led the Terriers with 18 kills and 62 attempts and also recorded a season-best 22 digs.
Senior Shana Glenn led Wofford defensively with a season-high 29 digs on the night, the highest mark of any Terrier this season. She now has 277 digs this season and is nearing her career-best total of 307 which she set in 2004.
Shanna Hughes notched 16 kills against the Bulldogs, giving her a .244 hitting percentage in the match. Hughes also added her 31st block of the season, one of three Wofford blocks on the night.
Lindsey Richardson came on strong in the final games for Wofford and finished with 13 kills and a .250 clip.
The Wofford volleyball team will continue play next Friday (Nov. 3) against the second-place Appalachian State Mountaineers in Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Davidson 3, Elon 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? On senior day at Belk Arena, senior setter Jenna Dykstra posted 37 assists to set the school's newest all-time assists record, as the Wildcats downed the Elon Phoenix 3-1 (30-19, 30-28, 18-30, 30-23) on Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference action. With their third consecutive conference win, the Wildcats improve to 17-12 overall and 9-5 in the SoCon, while Elon falls to 11-14 and 8-6 in the conference.
After head coach Tim Cowie honored seniors Dykstra, Liz Williamson and Lisa Cuellar in a pre-game ceremony, Dykstra's seventh assist in the first game broke Holt Hathaway's (1988-91) record of 3,826 career assists. After today's match, Dykstra has totaled 3,857 assists in her four-year career.
Ranking third all-time in kills for Davidson, Williamsom added 18 kills in the match, bringing her career total to 1,583, to go along with 10 digs to lead the Cats. Sophomore middle blocker Kittery Neale posted 13 kills, while hitting a team-high .400.
Emily Downing tallied 12 kills and 10 digs to lead the Phoenix, hitting a team-high .385, as Britany Westphal chipped in 12.
The two teams exchanged points to open up the match. With the score knotted at 10, Davidson outscored the Phoenix 3-1 to take a 13-11 edge. Elon managed to stay close, until a five-point serve from junior Lindsey Woeste pushed Davidson?s lead to 26-16 and effectively put the game away. Junior outside hitter Katie Pierucci totaled five of her nine kills in the game to lead Davidson to the 30-19 victory.
Davidson trailed for much of game two, as the Phoenix took an early 10-6 lead. The Wildcats slowly fought back, finally getting the score tied at 17-17. From that point, the teams traded possessions, with the score evened seven times even as late as 27-27 before two consecutive Phoenix errors gave Davidson a game-point try. Elon's Natalie Moore helped the Phoenix survive, but Williamson posted her fifth kill of the game on the next play to lift the Cats to a 30-28 victory.
In game three, the score was knotted at four when the Phoenix put together a 4-0 run to take a lead they would never surrender. Davidson got within two points on several occassions, but a 5-0 run again behind the serve of Westphal gave the Phoenix a 23-13 advantage they carried all the way to a 30-18 victory.
With Williamson serving, Davidson won the first five points to open game four. The Phoenix narrowed the gap to 16-13 later in the game, but the pair of Williamson and Neale who each had six kills in the game, proved too much as the Cats rolled to the 30-23 victory to take the match.
Davidson will take to the road next weekend, taking on SoCon rivals Wofford (Sat., Nov. 4 at 6 p.m.) and Furman (Sun., Nov. 5 at 2 p.m.), before returning home to host Appalachian State in the final home match of the season on Fri., Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.
Georgia Southern 3, Chattanooga 1
Chattanooga, Tenn. ? The Lady Mocs had 61 kills and 89 digs but were stopped by the Georgia Southern Eagles (27-30, 30-24, 20-30, 24-30) Saturday afternoon in four games.
Sophomore Kari Wiedinger led Chattanooga with 16 kills, but Georgia Southern used 20 kills in game four to wrap up the match.
Chattanooga’s record now sits at 10-16, 8-6 SoCon, and Georgia Southern improves its record to 10-10, 4-8 SoCon.
Junior Leslee Ball had 14 kills and six block assists, leading the team in blocks.
Sophomore Michaela Huff had 47 assists and 18 digs, while sophomore Lara Newberry had 31 digs to lead the team.
Junior Julianna Martinez and freshman Ashley Yeager also added nine kills, with Martinez hitting .292 and Yeager hitting .280.
The Eagles were led by its 14 blocks, including three block solos and five block assists from Jennifer Charles. Gorana Bacic led the attack with a team-high 15 kills.
Georgia Southern also had seven service aces with Charles and Natalie Rodriguez tallying three each.
The Lady Mocs take a trip to Charleston next weekend to take on Southern Conference opponents The Citadel and College of Charleston. Match times are 7:00 p.m. on Friday and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.