College of Charleston 3, Chattanooga 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? College of Charleston volleyball squad extended its Southern Conference road match win streak to 18 as the Cougars defeated Chattanooga, 3-1 (30-26, 33-31, 24-30, 30-24), in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Saturday.
The Mocs (7-11, 5-2 SoCon) out hit Charleston in Game 1 .295 to .269, but the Cougars’ attack tallied 22 kills to Chattanooga’s 16 to gain the win, 30-26. Game 2 was a back-and-forth battle with the game being tied on five different occasions, before Charleston sealed the win 33-31.
Chattanooga hit a match-high .306 in Game 3 to force Charleston to an extra game as the Mocs won 30-24. The Cougars
The Cougars’ offensive attack was led by Emily Sawin as she notched her sixth double-double of the season with 18 kills and 14 digs. Deanna Patrick followed with 16 digs. Alexis Lowes also recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 17 digs.
Charleston’s defense was anchored by Marie Dobrenz with 34 digs. Annie Uthe and Tiffany Blum netted five blocks each.
Uthe also added 11 kills, while Blum tallied nine. Lindsey Kane dished out 65 assists, along with four blocks.
As a team, the Cougars hit .175, while Chattanooga hit .177. The Mocs were led by Jamie Engel with 19 kills and 16 digs on .204 hitting.
Charleston (13-5, 7-0 SoCon) returns home next weekend to face UNC-Greensboro on Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. on Sunday against Elon.
The Citadel 3, Western Carolina 2
Cullowhee, N.C. ? Five Bulldogs recorded double-digit digs while three recorded double-doubles as The Citadel recorded their first conference win of the season in a 3-2 victory over Western Carolina Saturday night. Rachel Sanders led The Citadel with 21 kills, 15 digs and three blocks while Tiffany Edwards recorded 23 digs for the Bulldogs.
The win gives The Citadel (6-14, 1-7 Southern Conference) their first SoCon win since 2004 and ends an 11-match losing streak for the Bulldogs. Meanwhile, Western Carolina (5-18, 1-6 SoCon) dropped their sixth consecutive SoCon match of the season. Game scores were 22-30, 33-31, 30-20, 16-30 and 15-12.
“I am proud of my team for their performance tonight,” said head coach Carolyn Geiger. “Almost everyone played solid tonight and we had several double-double performances. It is nice getting our first conference win and getting it on the road makes it even better.”
Sanders’ 21 kills sets a season high for her and is the most number of kills a Bulldog has recorded this year. Meanwhile, Edwards’ 23 digs is a career high and the most digs any Cadet has recorded this season. Senior Samantha Parisi recorded her sixth double-double of the season as she registered 12 kills and 18 digs. Emily Hill’s 46 assists is a season high for the sophomore from Cypress, Texas, and she recorded her sixth double-double as she also had 10 digs on the night.
Western Carolina was led by Brittny Johnson’s 21 kills and Mereidth Harmon’s 20 kills while freshman Liz Rondone registered 30 digs on the night.
The Citadel hit .188 on the night to WCU’s .225 and were outblocked, 8-6. Both teams struggled in serving as the Bulldogs had four aces to 11 errors while the Catamounts had six aces and 14 errors.
Western Carolina was on fire in the first game, hitting .406 as they put down 17 kills but The Citadel hung close with 14 kills of their own. Freshman Taylor Stanke had four kills, hitting .286. WCU’s Johnson put down six kills in the Catamount game win.
Game two was a wild one with 19 tie scores and 13 lead changes. The Citadel tied the match at one with the 33-31 victory, set behind Parisi’s six digs. Three Bulldogs registered four kills in the game with Stanke, Sanders and Parisi all leading the offense in the game. WCU’s offense sputtered in the second set, only hitting .129, while The Citadel hit .192 in the game.
In the third game, the Bulldog offense caught fire as The Citadel put down 15 kills as they hit an impressive .306. WCU hit .171 en route to 13 kills. Sanders and Parisi led the Bulldog attack with five kills each as Sanders hit .714 (seven total attacks) in the game.
Western Carolina charged back in the fourth game, taking the 30-16 victory as The Citadel’s offense took its turn sputtering. The Citadel hit -.026 in the game to Western’s .372. Sanders put down another five kills in the game but did so on 18 attacks as she hit .167. WCU outkilled the Bulldogs in the game, 17-7.
WCU continued to roll early in game five, taking the 4-1 lead before The Citadel charged back to tie the game, 8-8. The Bulldogs took advantage of a few WCU attack errors and Stanke and Sanders put down kills in two of the game’s final three plays to clinch The Citadel’s 15-12 game victory and the match win.
The Citadel returns home and briefly steps away from conference action as the Bulldog Spikers host Winston-Salem State on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. in McAlister Field House. That match will be the first of three home matches where a live video stream will be broadcast in Bulldog Insider at CitadelSports.com. First serve is set for 6 p.m.
Davidson 3, Wofford 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? Junior outside hitter Katie Pierucci and sophomore middle blocker Kittery Neale each posted 15 kills to lead the Davidson Wildcat volleyball team to a 3-0 (30-23, 30-13, 30-21) win over the Wofford Terriers in SoCon action on Saturday afternoon at Belk Arena.
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 11-10 overall and an even 3-3 in SoCon play, while Wofford falls to 6-10 overall and 1-6 in the conference.
Pierucci and Neale paced the Wildcats, who outhit the Terriers .374 to .143 in the match that was never really in question. The Wildcats were dominant in every facet of the game, with an edge in kills (49-28), attacks (91-84), assists (47-24), service aces (11-3), digs (31-23) and blocks (11-4).
With no Terrier hitters reaching double-figures, Shanna Hughes posted eight kills and hit .400 to lead Wofford at the net.
The Terriers won the first point of the match, but it was the only time Wofford would lead in the first game. After going ahead 4-2 on a kill from sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Paroczai, the Wildcats went on a 6-0 run behind the serve of junior libero Lindsey Woeste to take a commanding 9-2 lead. Davidson maintained the comfortable margin throughout the game, and the Terriers would get no closer than 25-19 until two consecutive Wofford errors lifted the ?Cats to a 30-23 game one win.
In game two, Wofford again won the first point, which also proved their only lead of the game. A kill from Neale extended Davidson?s lead to 6-3, before a 4-0 run -including two service aces from junior Courtney Cron, pushed that lead to an insurmountable 10-4. The Wildcats dominated game two, holding the Terriers to single digits until the end, largely behind aggressive serving, as Davidson totaled seven service aces in the 30-11 victory.
For the third straight game, the Terriers won the first point, and built it into their largest lead at 3-1. With Wofford fighting to stay alive in the match, game three was the closest of the bunch. The teams traded points throughout the game, and the score was knotted seven times -even as late as 21-21. With the Wildcats holding an 18-14 lead, Wofford put together a 4-0 run behind the serving of Joanna Suddath to pull even at 19, and a kill from Lindsay Richardson again knotted the score at 21 before Davidson finally pulled away for good. Sophomore outside hitter Emily Mims gave the ?Cats a
22-21 edge they wouldn?t surrender, and Pierucci?s final kill of the match lifted Davidson to a 30-21 victory to take the match.
Davidson begins a two-game road trip, traveling to Western Carolina for a midweek conference matchup in Cullowhee at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and continuing to Boone to take on Appalachian State on Friday at 8 p.m.
Appalachian State 3, Furman 2
BOONE, N.C. ? Appalachian State University volleyball used a 4-0 run to win game five, 15-13 and take a 3-2 (23-30, 30-25, 28-30, 30-25, 15-13) victory over Furman in Southern Conference play, Saturday at the Holmes Center.
With the win the Mountaineers retain sole possession of second place in the SoCon with a 6-1 league record and 13-7 overall mark. ASU has now won five-straight matches and seven of its last eight contests. The Paladins fall into a tie with Chattanooga for third place in the league at 5-2, dropping their overall record to 9-9.
Furman came out strong in game one, trailing just once at 21-20. From that point the Paladins outscored the home team, 10-2, ending the game with a 6-0 run to take game one, 30-23.
Junior Brittany Zahn (Charlotte, N.C.) recorded seven kills in game two, and classmate Dianna Thomas (Mobile, Ala.) added six as ASU hit at a .286 mark to take game two by the score of 30-25 and tie the match at two games apiece.
Appalachian looked to be in control once again in game three after clawing back from a 14-10 deficit to eventually lead 28-26. But a kill by Furman’s Nicole Palazzo and three ASU errors proved to be the difference as Furman scored four-straight points to take game three, 30-28, and a 2-1 lead in the match.
After the Paladins opened game four with a 4-1 lead, the Mountaineers took their first lead at 6-5 behind the serving of Zahn. ASU never trailed again in the game, ending with a 3-0 run to win game four, 30-25 and force a fifth and deciding game.
Game five teetered back-and-forth between the two teams. With Furman leading, 13-12, junior Lorelle Rau (Oakland Park, Fla.) served her only ace of the match to tie the game at 13 and force a visitor timeout. After the timeout, senior Amy Lewis (Chesnee, S.C.) put away a Rau assist to give ASU the lead at 14-13 and force another timeout. Thomas ended the game with a kill and ASU ended the match with a 4-0 run to pull out a 3-2 victory.
Zahn recorded a match-high 26 kills, while Thomas came one kill shy of her career high with 17. Rau dished out 48 assists in the win, getting help from Thomas with three and freshman Cassie Engelgau (Lake Arrowhead, Calif.) who tied a career-high with five assists.
Engelgau anchored the Appalachian defense with 24 digs, while Rau added 17 and senior Chrissy Finch recorded 12. Sophomore Carla Durham (Dallas, Ga.) and Lewis guarded the nets with six and five total blocks, respectively.
Chibuzo Aguocha led the Furman hitting corps with 21 kills. Palazzo, Ally Hock, Kerry Wooten and Whitney Purser added 14, 13, 12 and 10, respectively. Pursuer put up a double-double, tying a match-high with 27 digs. Libero Stephanie Smith also added 27 digs, while Aguocha chipped in 17. Courtney Stewardson dished out 60 of the visitor’s 66 assists.
The Mountaineers conclude their three-match home stand as they host Wofford, Sunday, October 8 at 2 p.m. at the Holmes Center. Live stats and audio are available at www.GoASU.com.
UNC Greensboro 3, Georgia Southern 2
STATESBORO, Ga. ? After going up 2-0 on the UNC Greensboro Spartans, the Eagles lost the final three games, falling to 8-6 (2-4) on the season. The Spartans improve to 13-7 (4-4).
In the first two games, the Eagles had a combined 31 kills and a .293 hitting percentage. The squad, who has been first in the nation in aces per game for three weeks in a row, recorded eight aces in the two games, including three from freshman Natalie Rodriguez.
But errors got the best of the Eagles, recording 16 attack errors and four service errors in the last three games. GSU managed seven blocks in the match, including solos from junior Gorana Bacic and senior Jennifer Schenk. Senior Jennifer Charles led the Eagles with four block assists, and Schenk was second with three.
Sophomore Christy Dowd reached double-digit kills and digs with 16 and 10, respectively. Bailey Coleman also notched 16 kills for the Eagles.
The Eagles wrap up their four-match homestand on Sunday at 3 p.m. as they take on Elon at Hanner Fieldhouse.