College of Charleston 3, Western Carolina 1
Cullowhee, N.C. ? Despite out blocking the league-leading College of Charleston Cougars, 14-to-11, the Western Carolina Catamounts could not capitalize on opportunities Friday night, falling in four, 3-1 (30-21, 25-20, 30-15, 30-21) in Southern Conference action at the Ramsey Center.
“Although neither team played their best, I really felt like, for a time, we went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the Southern Conference tonight ? and for that, I am very proud of my team,” said second-year head coach Stephanie Dragan. “We were short-handed tonight, but several of our underclassmen stepped up and played well for us. Getting that kind of experience in tight games with good teams will do nothing but help us down the line.”
Freshman Brittny Johnson led the Catamounts with nine kills Western (5-17, 1-5 SoCon) had no one reach double-digits. Senior Heather Koontz recorded seven kills, while junior Meredith Harmon had six and freshman Amanda Kerr had five.
Three Catamounts recorded double-digits in digs led by a match-high from freshman Liz Rondone. The rookie from Bloomington, Ill., currently stands with 487 digs on the season, 10 shy of tying the WCU single-season record. Senior Kate Willard, who currently holds the season record, tallied 11 digs in the loss, while Koontz finished with 10 and freshman Lauren Brown had eight.
Down 1-0, the Catamounts hit their match-best, .167, in game two to edge the Cougars, 30-25 to even things at one apiece. The Catamounts rallied from a 15-to-11 deficit to knot the game at 17 before surging ahead for the final lead change of the game. Western pushed out to a four-point advantage, 24-20, on a Rondone service ace and stretched the lead to a game-high five on a Kerr kill at 27-22 before evening things up with a Johnson kill.
However, Western could not maintain the positive momentum from its game two victory falling in the third game, 30-15.
Facing elimination, Western matched Charleston nearly point-for-point through the majority of game three before the Cougars began to ease ahead. Tied at 16, CofC rattled off four-straight points to pull ahead, 20-16, forcing WCU to take a timeout. After the stoppage, the Catamounts were able to end the rally on another Johnson kill. Yet, Charleston out scored Western 10-to-4 down the stretch to claim the four-game victory.
The Cougars (12-5, 6-0 SoCon) were led by the double-double of freshman Emily Sawin with a match-high 19 kills and 18 digs, while junior Annie Uthe finished with 10 kills on a match-high .273 attack percentage. Senior Marie Dobrenz finished with 23 digs, while her classmate, Alexis Lowes, tallied 16.
The Catamounts continue their three-match home stand on Saturday afternoon hosting The Citadel Bulldogs at 2:00 pm in the Ramsey Center.
Chattanooga 3, The Citadel 0
Chattanooga, Tenn. ? The Lady Mocs kept the Bulldogs under 20 points each game as Chattanooga defeated The Citadel 30-15, 30-19, 30-16.
All of the Lady Mocs received the nod to play during the match as the team improved its record to 7-10, 5-1 SoCon. The Bulldogs fell to 5-14, 0-7 SoCon. Chattanooga extends its conference winning streak to five.
Juniors Leslee Ball and Kelsey Amundson racked up 13 kills each to help the team to its .325 hitting percentage. The team also kept its attack errors to five or less in the three games.
Ball also moved up the career block assists list with 167 to tie for sixth place, adding five tonight. Junior Sarah Bass also added five block assists.
Junior setter Bethany Herndon had 36 assist on 51 kills, taking over sole possession of No. 3 on the career assists list.
Sophomore Laura Nethery was strong in game three with two kills on two attacks and tallying three block assists, including one in the match-winning block.
The team out blocked (10.5-4.0), out dug (58-45) and out hit (51-28) the Bulldogs.
Herndon is only 59 assists away from moving solely into the No. 2 spot all-time. And sophomore libero Lara Newberry is only 23 digs away from moving into eighth.
Chattanooga takes on College of Charleston on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Live stats are available at www.gomocs.com.
Furman 3, Davidson 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? With four players hitting in double-digits, the Furman Paladins powered past the Davidson Wildcat volleyball team 3-1 (30-23, 22-30, 30-22, 30-24) in SoCon action at Belk Arena on Friday night.
The match was tied at one game apiece through the first two games, before Furman won the last two games to improve to 9-8 and 5-1 in the SoCon.
Davidson?s record evens to 10-10 overall and 2-3 in conference play after the loss.
The three Davidson hitters got into double-digits, led by junior outside hitter Katie Pierucci, who turned in a double-double performance with 17 kills in just 31 swings (.452) to go along with a team-high 15 digs.
Sophomore middle blocker Kittery Neale hit .355 with 16 kills and seven blocks, while senior outside hitter Liz Williamson chipped in 12 kills to the attack. Junior libero Lindsey Woeste tallied 12 digs on the defensive end, while senior setter Jenna Dykstra dished out 48 assists.
Kerry Wooten paced the Furman attack with 17 kills and four service aces, while Nicole Palazzo tallied 15 kills and hit a match-high .591. Chibuzo Aguocha (17) and Ally Hock (10) were big contributors for the Lady Paladins as well.
Furman was in control of game one from the first point, though the score was knotted a few times early. Despite being down for most of the game, Davidson never trailed by more than three points, until late when the Paladins pulled ahead by 27-19. The Wildcats got within six on a kill from Pierucci, but that was as close as they could get before Hock gave Furman a 30-23 victory.
Pierucci posted seven kills in the game, as did Wooten for Furman, who outhit the Wildcats .410 to .244 in game one.
Game two was an exact opposite of game one, with Davidson jumping out to an early lead from the first point and maintaining it all the way -leading by as many as 21-12 late in the game. Furman got five kills out of Whitney Purser to get within six at 28-22, but a kill from sophomore middle blocker Alison Dwyer set up the game-winning point, as the Wildcats took a 30-22 victory on a Aguocha attack error to knot the match at one game apiece.
Neale paced both teams with eight kills, as Davivdson outhit Furman .400 to .227.
With both teams trying to gain an advantage in the match, game three was much closer than either of the previous pair. Furman took an early 3-1 lead, but the ?Cats kept pace, and the score was knotted at 14 midway through the game. At that point though, Stephanie Smith served five straight points for the Paladins, who carried an 18-14 lead all the way to a 30-22 win in the third game to take control of the match. Palazzo and Aguocha tallied six kills in the game, as Furman outhit Davidson .424 to just .067.
The Wildcats battled again in game four, and the score was tied seven times until Davidson finally pulled ahead for a 16-12 lead. But Furman put together a 4-0 run to pull within one at 16-15, and eventually got things knotted at 19 before finally pulling ahead for good on a 7-0 run. With Davidson clinging to a 19-18 lead, Kerry Wooten served six straight points to lift Furman to a 24-20 lead, and ultimately, a 30-24 victory in game four to take the match.
Davidson will face SoCon-foe Wofford (6-9, 1-5) at 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon at Belk Arena. Neither live stats nor video streaming will be available for the match, but the final box score will be posted online as soon as possible.