Appalachian State 3, Marshall 0
BOONE, N.C. - The Appalachian State University volleyball team opened the 2006 in commanding fashion with a 3-0 (30-25, 30-24, 30-26) victory over Marshall University in the second match of the Mast General Store Appalachian Classic hosted by ASU at the Holmes Center.
With the win the Mountaineers start the season at 1-0, while the Herd get off to a 0-1 start to the season. Earlier in the day, Middle Tennessee defeated Radford, 3-0, making MTSU and ASU the two undefeated teams in the tournament.
Setter Lorelle Rau (Oakland Park, Fla.) got off to a good start in her junior season, compiling a double-double with 10 digs and 35 assists. The preseason all-SoCon selection added four kills.
Fellow juniors Brittany Zahn (Charlotte, N.C.) and Dianna Thomas (Mobile, Ala.) led the way offensively with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Thomas hit at a match-high .471 mark with just three errors on 17 attempts.
Sophomore Carla Durham (Dallas, Ga.) proved to be a force at the net, out-blocking Marshall as a team with eight block assists. Senior Amy Lewis (Chesnee, S.C.) pitched in five block assists.
Marshall was led by Emily Sullivan with nine kills. Kristin Marcum came two kills short of a double-double with 12 digs and eight kills. Katherine Poss and Christin Bimberg split the setting duties with 11 and 20 assists, respectively.
The Herd took their only leads of game one at 1-0 and 2-1, but never trailed by more than four points until the final point of the match. Thomas and senior Chrissy Finch (Lake Zurich, Ill.) each had four kills in the opening game and Rau compiled 13 assists as ASU went on to win 30-25.
In the second game, the Mountaineers never trailed and led by as many as seven points on their way to a 30-24 win and a 2-0 match-lead. Zahn and Durham led the offense with four kills apiece, while Rau added five digs and 11 assists.
Appalachian again led the entire game three, going on to win, 30-26, and complete the 3-0 sweep of Marshall. Thomas and Zahn chipped in five kills apiece, while Finch added six digs in the victory.
The Mountaineers conclude play at the Mast General Store Appalachian Classic with two matches Saturday. ASU takes on Radford at 10 a.m., followed by the night cap with Middle Tennessee at 7 p.m. Marshall faces Middle Tennessee at noon, followed by a match up with Radford at 5 p.m.
Wofford 3, Quinnipiac 0
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. -- Freshman Lindsey Richardson returned to the lineup Friday as the Wofford volleyball team opened its 2006 campaign with a 3-0 (30-18, 30-14, 30-13) sweep over Quinnipiac in the teams' first match at the UMES Kick-Off Classic in Princess Anne, Md.
Richardson, who played 16 games for the Terriers a year ago before suffering a season-ending injury Sept. 7, led all players with 10 kills on 14 attacks with just one error for a .643 hitting percentage.
Also hitting above .500 for Wofford (1-0) was freshman Joanna Suddath with five kills on seven total attacks, also with just one error, for a .571 hitting percentage. She also tallied six service aces and 24 assists in her first contest as the Terriers' setter.
Fellow rookie Sarah Twitty notched nine kills on 28 total attacks, while sophomore Liz Sheets recorded five kills.
Junior Lisa Lindemenn matched Suddath with six service aces among the 20 Wofford hit as a team. The 20 service aces is the third-highest for the Terriers in a three-game match during their Division I era (1995-present).
Freshman Sarah Palmer led all players with 12 digs, while senior Shana Glenn added eight and sophomore Carolyn Rivers contributed seven.
"Overall, we played very well," said head coach Corey Helle. "We served well and having Lindsey back in the lineup really helped as our hitting was strong. We look forward to getting back at it tomorrow."
Pacing the Bobcats was Stephanie Conde with seven kills, while Ashley Angle had six. Jenna Benigno posted a team-high 22 total attacks and Erin Overdevest registered 14 assists for Quinnipiac (0-1).
The two teams will continue play Saturday in the UMES Kick-Off Classic. Wofford will face Norfolk State in another neutral site matchup at 11 a.m. before squaring off with host Maryland-Eastern Shore at 7 p.m.
Arkansas-Little Rock 3, Western Carolina 1
Mississippi 3, Western Carolina 0
Oxford, Miss. ? The Western Carolina volleyball team opened the 2006 season dropping a pair of matches at the Magnolia Invitational, hosted my the University of Mississippi. Early Friday morning, the Catamounts and Arkansas-Little Rock kicked off the event with UALR claiming a 3-1 (30-24, 25-30, 30-22, 30-23) decision. Later in the afternoon, Western faced host team Ole Miss and fell 3-0 (30-20, 30-19, 30-24).
The Catamounts will return to the Gillom Sports Center on Saturday to face Southeast Missouri at 9:30 am (CT) and Pittsburgh at 2:30 pm (CT).
In its first match, Western freshman Katie Hennessey spread the ball over five players to register 33 assists. The Cats were paced by senior Heather Koontz and freshman Amanda Kerr, each of whom tallied 10 kills. Kerr also only had four errors on 27 attempts while classmate Brittny Johnson had a .500 hitting percentage, getting nine kills on 18 attempts with zero errors. Johnson added a team-high five blocks as well. Senior Meghan Boyle and junior Meredith Harmon added eight and seven kills, respectively. Freshman libero Liz Rondone led the defensive effort with 18 digs with Boyle chipping in 13.
“Katie Hennessey did a good job of distributing the ball in the first match as is evident by how even our attack was,” said second-year head coach Stephanie Dragan. “I was pleased with the level of play from Brittny Johnson and Amanda Kerr. At times we had four freshmen on the court and, for their first collegiate game, played very well.
“Prior to game two, Katie injured herself so we had to shuffle the lineup. Liz Rondone moved from libero to outside hitter. At 5-6, she did a good job swinging and not being intimidated by Ole Miss’ big blocks. Amanda was forced to move to right back, making it the first time she has ever played at that position. She did a good job there and at the net for us. Overall, I was very pleased with the play of our freshman. We will try again to do it better tomorrow.”
In game two versus the home-standing Rebels, Rondone had five kills, 14 digs and a block assist. Kerr added six kills and seven digs with Johnson tallying four kills with zero errors in 13 attempts. Koontz recorded nine kills on 39 attempts with Kate Willard getting 10 digs.
Virginia Tech 3, Furman 1
Greenville, N.C. -- Taylor Parrish tallied 23 kills as Virginia Tech downed Furman 3-1 (30-21, 30-28, 25-30, 30-18) at the ECU Invitational in the season opener for both teams.
Junior Chibuzo Aguocha, who was named to the preseason all-conference team earlier this week, led Furman with 22 kills on the night. Alison West also reached double-digits in kills with a career-high 12 kills.
Parrish led all players with 23 kills, and Sarah Munoz added 10 winners for the Hokies.
Courtney Stewardson led Furman with 40 assists and Kerry Wooten led the Paladins with five total blocks (two solo). Aguocha and Ally Hock each recorded two service aces, and freshman Stephanie Smith topped the Paladins with 15 defensive saves.
Furman falls to 0-1 on the season, and will return to action tomorrow as the Paladins face East Carolina at 1 p.m. before facing William and Mary at 4 p.m.
UNCG 3, UT-Martin 1; UNCG 3, SC State 0
WILMINGTON, NC - With three players in double-digit kills, UNC Greensboro defeated UT-Martin, 3-1, to claim its first win in a season-opener since 1999, in the opening round of the UNC Wilmington Invitational on Friday afternoon. The Spartans would win their second match of the day, 3-0, against South Carolina State.
Senior transfer Theresa Hart led the Spartans with a match-high 15 kills against UT-Martin. She also added five service aces and two blocks. Sophomore Kaitlyn Nortz added 13 kills and had a team-high five blocks, while senior Hilary Overby added 12 kills.
UNCG fell behind right away in the first game to give the Skyhawks a 7-0 lead right from the start. The Spartans played catch-up all game until, after two kills by Hart, they tied the game 30-30. However, the Skyhawks would take the final two points to win 30-32.
In the second game, the Spartans grabbed an early lead and held on to win 30-19. The Skyhawks kept it close in the third game but UNCG, which kept the tight lead throughout the game, came on top 30-23. The fourth game remained close with nine ties but the Spartans went on an 11-3 run to take the final game, 30-22.
Against South Carolina State, freshman Emily Lindborg would lead all players with nine kills. Hart and freshman Branagan Fuller would add seven kills each. Lisa Fawell handed out 22 assists and Catherine Hanners had eight digs.
UNCG will face off with Winston-Salem State at 3 pm on Saturday and then wrap up the weekend against the host Seahawks at 7 pm.
Georgia Southern 3, Campbell 0
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern volleyball team earned its first victory of the season Friday night, defeating Campbell 3-0 (30-21, 30-24, 30-23) at the GSU Invitational at Hanner Fieldhouse.
In the first game, the Eagles took advantage of five straight attack errors by Campbell, scoring seven consecutive points, to pull ten points ahead and eventually take the first 30-21. On four straight unanswered kills from juniors Bailey Coleman and Gorana Bacic, GSU pulled ahead 8-2 in the second game and never looked back. The Camels never came within less than three points of the lead and GSU won 30-24. Thanks to two straight service aces by sophomore Christy Dowd and timely errors from Campbell, the Eagles gained a six-point lead in the final frame, eventually outscoring the Camels 30-23 for the match victory.
“Campbell came in here and played a great game,” said Eagle head coach Nicole McCray. “I’m sure there were nerves on both sides of the net, but we stayed focused from the beginning. That was our game plan.”
Coleman and Bacic led the team in kills with 13 and 10, respectively. Setters Mae Chabra and Natalie Rodriguez each had 20 assists. Dowd recorded 14 digs and was followed closely by senior Staci Anderson (13).
“Everyone came together and gave a total team effort,” added McCray. “We were disciplined and stayed focused through all three games.”
The Eagles wrap up the GSU Invitational Saturday with matches against Savannah State at 12:30 p.m. and Charleston Southern at 7 p.m.
Davidson 3, Buffalo 0
Davidson 3, NC State 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? The Davidson Wildcats volleyball team recorded their
second victory of the day, downing the University of Buffalo 3-0 (24-
30, 26-30, 30-32) in their home opener at Belk Arena on Friday night.
With the win, Davidson, who defeated N.C. State earlier in the day at Charlotte, improves to 2-0 while Buffalo falls to 0-2 on the young season.
Sophomore middle blocker Kittery Neale paced the Wildcats with 16 kills, hitting .379 in the match. Sophomore opposite Lindsay Paroczai added 14 kills and hit a team-leading .545, while senior outside hitter Liz Williamson added 11 kills, and junior outside hitter Katie Pierucci chipped in 10.
While Davidson placed four players into double-digits in the kills column, senior outside hitter Nikki Morzenti led Buffalo with just nine kills.
Senior setter Jenna Dykstra turned in another solid performance for the 'Cats, recording 48 assists, while junior libero Courtney Cron collected a match-high 19 digs.
"It was nice to get a win playing against a good friend," head coach Tim Cowie said. "But we know we have a lot of work to do to get ready for next weekend."
With the score knotted at 15-15, Davidson went on a 5-0 run to pull ahead
20-15 in game one behind the serving of junior libero Lindsey Woeste and the strong play of Neale at the net. From that breaking point, the Wildcats never trailed, marching to a 24-30 victory in the most commanding of the three wins.
In game two, Davidson came out strong, rolling to an early 10-5 lead behind the serve of Cron with Neale again a dominant force at the net. The Bulls clawed back, shrinking the margin to just 11-10 and eventually knotted the score at 17-17 on one of sophomore middle blocker Alyssa Fitchette's four blocks. In a what became a hard fought battle, the score was tied four times after that point. Williamson and Pierucci gave the 'Cats the advantage, and Neale punched home the game point from Dykstra to take game two by a score of 26-30.
Davidson went to the locker room with a 2-0 edge, but struggled out of the gates in game three, trailing 1-3 early before fighting back to a 5-5 tie.
The final game of the match was the tightest, with the leading changing four times and knotting 10 times. There was never more than a four point spread, and with Buffalo facing a match point, senior outside hitter Jenna Mape collected one of her seven kills. Sophomore middle blocker Alison Dwyer made it 29-29, punching home her fourth kill of the match, but Buffalo went ahead with a kill from Morzenti. Williamson knotted the score at 30, and Neale gave the 'Cats a 31-30 advantage before a Buffalo attack error gave Davidson the victory.
The Wildcats take their two-game winning streak on the road to High Point, facing the Panthers on Sunday at 2 p.m.