Chattanooga 3, Wofford 0
Chattanooga, Tenn. ? Junior Leslee Ball had 13 kills and had a .542 hitting percentage as the Lady Mocs shut out Wofford (30-14, 30-20, 30-12) Sunday afternoon.
“I’m so proud of the team today,” Chattanooga head coach Lisa Rhodes said. “It was a great opportunity to get everyone in the last home match. And it was good to play this match right before the conference tournament, so that everyone is pumped now going into it.”
Ball also had six block assists, adding to the team’s total 10 blocks.
Chattanooga improves its record to 12-19, 10-8 SoCon, while Wofford falls to 7-21, 1-17 SoCon going into the conference tournament next week.
The Lady Mocs stopped Wofford, not giving the Terriers any blocks, and holding the team to a .000 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Michaela Huff had four service aces, tying her career-high, and 29 assists. She also had one block solo and four block assists.
Junior Julianna Martinez had 10 kills and three block assists. She moved up on the career total blocks list now tying for fifth. And she is tied for 10th on the single-season list for block assists.
Wofford was led by freshman Shanna Hughes with eight kills, and senior Shana Glenn with 13 defensive digs.
The Lady Mocs head to the Southern Conference Tournament hosted by Appalachian State on Thursday. The team will play at 10:00 a.m. on Friday against the No. 4 seed in the conference.
Furman 3, Western Carolina 0
Cullowhee, N.C. ? Furman put three players in double-figure kills en route to downing Western Carolina in straight sets, 3-0 (30-22, 30-21, 30-23), spoiling senior day on Sunday afternoon in the Ramsey Center. Prior to the match, WCU honored its four seniors, Meghan Boyle, Heather Koontz, Krista Neumann and Kate Willard.
“Obviously we would like to have won the last home match for our senior class. I wish that Heather (Koontz) could have played today on her senior day. But, it was good to have all three of our seniors who dressed out on the court playing together in game three,” said head coach Stephanie Dragan.
Junior Meredith Harmon led the Catamounts with nine kills and four total blocks, while senior Meghan Boyle and freshman Brittny Johnson added eight kills apiece. Defensively, WCU was led by freshman Liz Rondone with 21 digs, with her classmate, Lauren Brown, adding eight in the loss. A third rookie, setter Katie Hennessey, finished with 26 set assists and two block assists.
“Brittny (Johnson) did a nice job with eight kills ? a lot from a different position ? coming back after what we thought was a season-ending injury. I also felt that Katie (Hennessey) did a nice job distributing the ball and Lauren (Brown) did well defensively playing all-around today. We will regroup and look forward to a tough week of practice in preparation for the Southern Conference tournament,” Dragan said.
Furman (19-10, 14-3 SoCon) was paced by 10 kills apiece by Ally Hock, Nicole Palazzo, and Kerry Wooten. Hock hit a match-high .643 with just one error on 14 total attacks while Wooten hit .600, committing one error on 15 attacks. Kim Tonkin led the Lady Paladins defensively with 17 digs while Chibuzo Aguocha, who led the SoCon with 4.49 kills per game entering the match, tallied 11 digs but was limited to seven kills.
Western Carolina will now turn its focus to the 2006 Southern Conference Volleyball Championships this Thursday through Sunday in Boone, N.C. Western will be seeded ninth and will face the eighth-seeded Georgia Southern Eagles in the first match of the tournament at 10:00 am on Thursday, Nov. 16. WCU split with GSU this season, rallying to win in five games in Statesboro before falling in four in Cullowhee.
Georgia Southern 3, Davidson 1
STATESBORO, Ga. ? In the final home match of the season, the Georgia Southern volleyball team stepped up to defeat Davidson 3-1 (30-16, 22-30, 30-26, 30-26).
Senior Jennifer Charles racked up a season-high 18 kills on the day, adding a solo block and four block assists. Senior Jennifer Schenk tallied three block assists and a solo block, while senior Staci Anderson contributed 19 digs.
Game one went to the Eagles, who outscored the Wildcats 30-16. After being up 9-4, GSU went on a scoring drive, collecting nine of the next 10 points to go up 18-5. The Eagles never looked back, scoring on kills from Charles and Christy Dowd and taking advantage of Wildcat errors.
The second frame belonged to Davidson who posted 18 team kills and two blocks to down the Eagles 30-22.
Georgia Southern took game three 30-26. With the game tied at 15, the Eagles pulled ahead on a kill from Gorana Bacic and maintained the lead until the end, eventually taking the game to go up 2-1.
The final game was neck-and-neck, but the Eagles were able to pull out the win 30-26 thanks to more Davidson errors. The Wildcats attempted a rally late, posting three consecutive points, but lost the match on a ball handling error by Jenny Dykstra.
The Eagles will travel to Boone, N.C. on Thursday for the Southern Conference Tournament. Seeds and match times have not been determined.