Furman 3, Chattanooga 0
Chattanooga, Tenn. ? Junior Leslee Ball had a team-high 13 kills as Chattanooga fell to Furman (28-30, 26-30, 23-30) Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Mocs played the Paladins closely as the team’s record falls to 11-19, 9-8 Socon, and Furman improves its record to 18-10, 14-3 SoCon.
Ball had a .400 hitting percentage and added two block assists. And Kari Wiedinger had seven kills, hitting .389.
Sophomore Lara Newberry added 17 digs, and sophomore Jessica Menzer had two service aces and a career-high 12 digs.
Furman’s Chibuzo Aguocha had a double-double with 23 kills and 13 digs. She also tallied two service aces and three assists, with a hitting percentage of .396.
The Lady Mocs close out the regular season, hosting Wofford on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
Elon 3, The Citadel 0
ELON, N.C. ? Britany Westphal posted 17 kills and Juliena Gigon tallied 16 to lead the Elon Phoenix to a 3-0 (30-22, 30-26, 30-20) victory over The Citadel Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference volleyball action in Alumni Gym to wrap up the regular season. Elon moved to 12-17 overall and 9-9 in the conference while the Bulldogs fell to 10-23, 2-16.
Gigon registered a .615 hitting percentage with no errors on her 26 attempts. Westphal had just three errors on 32 attempts for a .438 hitting percentage. Ashley Ruckert added nine kills and three aces while Natalie Moore posted 32 assists and Emily Regan added 19. Brooke Pickard and Emily Downing notched 12 digs a piece while Gigon added nine digs along with eight total blocks. Elon posted a .385 hitting percentage for the match.
Rachel Sanders led The Citadel with 15 kills while Taylor Stanke posted 12 and Samantha Parisi added 11. Parisi led the defense with 12 digs while Sanders recorded nine. Emily Hill tallied 38 assists for the Bulldogs.
After a 12-12 tie in game one, Elon used a 9-2 run to take a seven-point lead at 21-14 on a kill from Westphal. The Phoenix maintained the lead and finished the game 30-22 on a kill from Gigon. Westphal and Gigon had six kills each in the game.
In the second game, Elon took an early four-point advantage and led 15-11 before the Bulldogs outscored the Phoenix 8-4 to knot the game at 19 on an ace from Parisi. After ties at 22, 23 and 24, The Citadel took a two-point 26-24 lead on kills from Kim Cooper and Stanke. Two Bulldogs hitting errors gave Elon two points and tied the game, 26-26. The Phoenix tallied the next four points and closed the game 30-26 on a kill from Ruckert.
The Phoenix posted a .459 hitting percentage in the third game with just two errors on 37 attempts and 19 kills. After a 5-5 tie, Elon went on a 10-0 run behind the serve of Ruckert to take a 15-5 edge. Elon maintained the lead and finished the game 30-20 on a kill from Downing.
Both teams return to action at the Southern Conference volleyball tournament, starting on Thursday, Nov. 16 in Boone, N.C.
College of Charleston 3, UNCG 0
GREENSBORO, NC ? The UNC Greensboro women’s volleyball team ended its regular season with a 3-0 loss to first place College of Charleston in Southern Conference action Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gym.
The Cougars (23-7, 17-1 SoCon) won the match by scores of 30-27, 30-13 and 30-20. Even with the loss, UNCG notched its first 20-win season since 1995 as the club finished the year with a 20-12 overall record and a 9-9 slate in the league.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Nortz posted a match-best 12 kills to lead the Spartans, while senior Theresa Hart added 10 kills. Freshman Lisa Fawell led UNCG with 35 assists and 12 digs, while Catherine Hanners came up with 11 digs.
A balanced attack with Lindsey Kane and Deanna Patrick notching nine kills apiece, while both Emily Sawin and Annie Uthe added eight kills to lead Charleston. Kane also handed out 26 assists, while Marie Dobrenz had a match-high 21 digs.
Game one appeared fully in the grasp of UNCG as it held a 23-16 lead after a kill by Hart. Nortz came out with a purpose in the opening game and put away nine kills in the early going to give the Spartans the lead. The Spartans slowly lost their lead as the Cougars chipped away and finally tied the game at 27-27 on a service ace by Alexis Lowes. Charleston followed with three straight points to take the opener in come-from-behind fashion, 30-27.
The effects of game one seamed to carry into the second game as the Cougars took an early 5-1 lead. Charleston’s lead would balloon to 26-8 after a kill by Sawin and that led to a 30-13 win for the visitors in game two.
UNCG showed some resiliency in game three by coming out of the intermission and scoring the first four points of the game, and still led 10-5 after a kill by freshman Branagan Fuller. However, Charleston scored five straight to tie things up 10-10. A kill by senior Hilary Overby put UNCG up 11-10, but that was the final lead of the afternoon for the Spartans. Charleston went on to take the match with a 30-20 win in game three.
Before the match, UNCG’s three seniors, Hart, Overby and Christin Heverly were honored for their dedication and commitment to the Spartan volleyball program. Overby and Heverly were four-year members, while Hart played only her senior year with the Spartans after transferring from the University of San Francisco.
Hart finishes the regular season with 483 kills for the year, which is the third most in school history. She has a chance to become just the second player to ever record 500 in a season, which was done by Missi Olson in 1992. The San Juan Capistrano, CA native also demolished the kills per game record as she currently stands at 4.27 per game. No one had ever reached the four per-game plateau at UNCG.
Fawell, the freshman out of Wheaton, IL, also set a school record with
1,485 assists and 12.50 per game, which also leads the SoCon. Fellow classmate, Hanners has come up with 585 digs, the third most in school history, while Nortz’s 398 kills and 125 total blocks rank in the top-10 all-time in their respective categories.
For second-year head coach Shawn Garus, he has turned around a team that went 5-26 last year, a difference in 15 victories from one year to the next.
UNCG will take part in the SoCon Tournament, which runs November 16-19 in Boone, NC.
Appalachian State 3, Georgia Southern 0
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Appalachian State had two players both record 12 kills as the Mountaineers overpowered the Eagles 3-0 (30-24, 30-25, 30-27) Saturday afternoon.
Game one was tied 10-10 when the Mountaineers went on a scoring streak, taking 10 of the next 14 points thanks to Georgia Southern errors. With the score 26-22, the Eagles attempted to rally, tallying points off of kills from Bailey Coleman and Gorana Bacic, but eventually fell 30-24.
The second frame also went to the Mountaineers 30-25, as GSU recorded 13 attack errors and 12 kills.
The final game was neck-and-neck, with the Eagles never letting the Mountaineers get more than a three-point lead. Jennifer Charles recorded two block assists in the last frame Coleman added a block assist and a solo block, but the defensive efforts were not enough to stop Appalachian State.
Christy Dowd recorded her seventh double-double of the season, posting 13 kills and 11 digs. Charles was second on the team in kills, tallying 10 in the three-game set.
Setter Mae Chabra had 35 assists and 11 digs, and libero Staci Anderson added 16 digs in the loss. Jennifer Schenk continued her defensive efforts, recording a solo block and a block assist, as well as five kills.
Georgia Southern will wrap up the regular season tomorrow as they play host to the Davidson Wildcats. Match time is set for 1:30 p.m. Prior to the start of the match, the Eagles will honor seniors Anderson, Charles and Schenk as they compete in their last career home match.