College of Charleston 3, Western Carolina 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Deanna Patrick’s 13 kills paced the College of Charleston as the Cougars swept Western Carolina 3-0 (30-18, 30-21, 30-19) in Southern Conference action at John Kresse Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Patrick, who hit a .429 clip, added five digs. She was followed by Tiffany Blum with 10 kills. Blum had six blocks.
Charleston improves to 21-7 and 15-1 in conference.
Marie Dobrenz anchored the Cougar defense with 15 digs, followed by Emily Sawin’s 11. Sawin also added nine kills, four assists, three blocks and a service ace.
Lindsey Kane dished out 42 assists and hit a match-high .444 on four kills.
Western Carolina (8-26, 4-13 SoCon) was led by Meredith Harmon with 12 kills, and the Catamount defense was anchored by Liz Rondone with 13 digs. Rondone now owns the Southern Conference record for most digs in a season with 741. The record was previously held by Chattanooga’s Lara Newberry with 736 digs.
Charleston will travel to Elon on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m., followed by a Nov. 11 match at UNC Greensboro to wrap up the regular season schedule. The Cougars will travel to Boone, N.C., to defend its SoCon title Nov. 16-19.
Georgia Southern 3, Elon 1
ELON, N.C. ? Christy Dowd recorded 24 kills and 12 digs to lead the Georgia Southern Eagles to a 3-1 (30-28, 34-32, 24-30, 30-27) victory over the Elon Phoenix in Southern Conference volleyball action on Sunday afternoon in Alumni Gym.
Georgia Southern improves to 12-12 on the season and 6-10 in conference play while Elon falls to 11-16, 8-8.
After a 14-14 tie in game one, Georgia Southern took a 15-14 lead on a kill from Dowd ? one of her six in the game. The Eagles would push the lead to as much as five and led 27-22 before a 4-0 run by the Phoenix cut the lead to one at 27-26. The Eagles moved the lead back to two at 28-26 before Elon tallied two straight points on a kill from Juliena Gigon and a block by Gigon and Jessica Barrow to knot the game at 28. But GSU posted back-to-back points on a solo block by Jennifer Schenk and an Elon error to take the 30-28 win.
In game two, Elon took an early lead and extended its advantage to five at 17-12. The Eagles got within two, but Elon again took a five-point lead at 21-16 before GSU used a 6-1 run to tie the game 22-22. After ties at the next four points, Elon took a three-point lead at 29-26. The Eagles tallied the next three points on a kill from Bailey Coleman and two service aces to knot the game at 29. After a 32-32 tie, GSU posted the final two points to finish the game 34-32.
Elon used a .342 hitting percentage in game three to take the victory. Elon scored eight consecutive points early in the contest to take a 9-2 advantage. Elon pushed the lead to eight at 11-3 on a kill from Britany Westphal. The Eagles would get within five, but the Phoenix again went up by eight at 22-14. Elon held onto the lead and closed the game 30-24 on a Westphal kill. Westphal and Barrow each posted seven kills in the game.
Gorana Bacic tallied seven kills and a .700 hitting percentage and Jennifer Charles added six kills on a .750 percentage to lead the Eagles in the fourth game. Elon took an early five-point lead at 11-6 before GSU used a 9-1 run to go up by three at 15-12 on a block by Charles. The Eagles maintained the lead for the remainder of the game. Elon got within one at 28-27, but GSU tallied back-to-back kills from Dowd and Bacic to finish the game 30-27.
Bacic recorded a season-high 19 kills and only three errors on 34 attempts for a .471 hitting percentage while Charles posted 12 kills and five total blocks long with two service aces. Natalie Rodriguez notched 13 digs and three aces while Flavia Pereira tallied 12 digs and two aces. Mae Chabra posted 62 assists for the Eagles.
Barrow led Elon with 14 kills while Westphal added 13 and Gigon tallied 11 along with seven total blocks. Brooke Pickard led the defense with 14 digs while Emily Downing added 13 along with six total blocks and two aces. Shelley MacBean posted 10 digs and Stefanie Meyers recorded six total blocks and three aces while Natalie Moore tallied 43 assists.
Elon returns to action on Friday, Nov. 10 in a 7 p.m. match with College of Charleston in Alumni Gym. Georgia Southern plays host to Appalachian State on Saturday, Nov. 11 in a 2 p.m. match.
Furman 3, Davidson 0
Greenville, S.C. -- Furman hit .440 as a team, and recorded 49 digs to Davidson’s 28 as the Paladins beat the Wildcats 3-0 (30-14, 30-16, 30-26) on Saturday afternoon at Alley Gym. Furman celebrated Senior Day as seniors Whitney Purser, Ally Hock, and Kim Tonkin participated in their final regular season home games for the Paladins.
Furman has now won eight of their last nine matches, with all eight victories during that stretch coming by a 3-0 margin. With the win, Furman takes over second place in the Southern Conference.
Chibuzo Aguocha led the Furman offensive with 16 kills and just four hitting errors (.364). Purser and Nicole Palazzo each recorded nine kills, and Kerry Wooten added seven kills. Palazzo and Wooten, Furman’s starting middle hitters, did not commit a hitting error during the match in 21 total attempts and combined to hit at a .762 clip (16-0-21). Courtney Stewardson added four kills and no attacking errors in seven attempts for a .571 hitting percentage.
Tonkin led the Furman defensive play with 11 digs, while Aguocha added 10 defensive saves for her tenth double-double of the season. Aguocha had just ten career double-doubles entering the 2006 season. Purser and Hock added nine and eight defensive saves, respectively for the Paladins.
Stewardson recorded 40 set assists and directed a Furman offense that hit better than .440 for the third time this season.
Furman held an 8-1 advantage in service aces, led by Wooten’s career high five aces. Wooten and Palzzo both tie for the game-high with three total blocks, with each recording one solo block.
Liz Williamson led Davidson with ten kills, while Jenna Dykstra added 34 set assists. Katie Pierucci had a team-high six digs and Emily Mims recorded a service ace.
In game one, with Furman holding a 5-3 lead, the Paladins broke through with five straight points to earn a 10-3 advantage behind the serve of Hock. Then, with Furman holding a 22-11 advantage, the Paladins reeled off six straight points to take a 28-11 lead. Furman outhit Davidson .542 to .000 in the first game, asAguocha recorded six kills for the Paladins.
The Paladins jumped out quickly in game two as well, building a 22-9 lead.
Furman took advantage of ten Davidson hitting errors, as Furman held a
.375 to -.026 advantage in hitting percentage. Aguocha again led Furman with five kills in the second frame.
Davidson improved its play following the intermission, and the two teams battled back and forth in game three. With the score tied 15-15, neither team could manage more than a two point lead. Furman then won four straight points to take a 19-15 lead. The Paladins then held on to close out the match 30-26. Palazzo recorded six kills in seven attempts during the third game, and Aguocha added five more kills for the Paladins.
With the win, Furman improves to 17-10 on the season, 13-3 in the Southern Conference. Davidson falls to 18-13 overall, 10-6 in conference action.
The Paladins return to action next weekend in their final action of the regular season. Furman is on the road on Saturday at Chattanooga, and then again on Sunday at Western Carolina.