UNC Greensboro 3, Campbell 0
BUIES CREEK, NC ? UNC Greensboro’s women’s volleyball team matched 2005’s win total with a 3-0 sweep of Campbell at Carter Gym on Tuesday night.
Senior Theresa Hart had a match-high 16 kills to lead the 5-0 Spartans.
Junior Lauren Keiser added nine kills on a team-best .471 hitting percentage. Sophomore Kaitlyn Nortz had eight kills and senior Hilary Overby put away seven kills for the Spartans. Freshman Lisa Fawell dished out 42 assists, while classmate Catherine Hanners came up with 21 digs.
Rachel Templin led Campbell (2-2) with 11 kills. Sara Dillon had 34 assists.
UNCG dominated the first two games of the match by hitting at a staggering
.422 (33-6-64) clip.
UNCG’s sluggish start found them tied 16-16 midway through game one. From that point, the Spartans went on a 9-2 run for a 25-18 lead that later turned into a 30-22 win for the visitors. Hart’s seven kills led an efficient attack as UNCG posted a .389 hitting percentage with 16 kills against only three errors. Fawell dished out 15 helpers in the opening game.
Game two proved to be even better as the Spartans hit .452 with 17 kills and again only three errors. UNCG grabbed a 10-5 in the early going and upped its lead to as many as 12 points, including the final margin of 30-18 as they cruised to a 2-0 lead before the intermission.
The final game featured extended runs by both teams. Trailing 15-12, Campbell scored the next seven points to lead 19-15 after a kill by Brittany Rusin that caused UNCG coach Shawn Garus to call a timeout.
The break in the action worked as the game was tied 20-20 moments later when Hart put away a feed from Fawell. The Camels regained the lead momentarily, 22-21, but UNCG came up with the next seven points which led to a 30-26 win for the Spartans’ fourth consecutive straight-set victory.
The Spartans improve to 15-8 against their rivals out of the Atlantic Sun Conference, while also picking up their first win over Campbell since 2003.
UNCG was 5-26 last season.
UNCG takes part in the UNC Asheville Volleyball Classic on Friday and Saturday at Justice Center in Asheville, NC. The Spartans play East Tennessee State on Friday at 5 pm in the opening game of the tournament.
UNCG will then play the host Bulldogs on Saturday at 12 noon and then Cleveland State at 3 pm.
UNC Asheville 3, Elon 2
ELON, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville Bulldogs took a 11-4 lead in the decisive fifth game to down the Phoenix 3-2 at Alumni Gym in Elon’s season opener on Tuesday night. UNCA took game one 30-24 before Elon rallied back to win the second game 30-26. After the break, the Bulldogs edged the Phoenix 33-31 and Elon took game four 30-28 before UNCA downed Elon 15-9 in the fifth game.
The Bulldogs (1-4) took an early 3-1 lead in game five and extended that lead to as much as seven at 11-4 on a service ace by Shannen Bagge. UNCA held onto its lead to take the game and the match 15-9.
In the first game of the evening, Elon took a 10-5 advantage on a kill from Britany Westphal. The Bulldogs went on an 11-6 run to tie the game at 16-16 on a kill from Emily Palma. After a 17-17 tie, UNC Asheville scored the next four points to take a 21-17 lead. The Bulldogs held onto the lead and extended it to as much as seven at 28-21. Elon scored the next three points and cut the lead to four at 28-24 but UNCA earned the next two points on an Elon service error and an ace by Kaitlyn McDaniel to end the game 30-24.
The Phoenix took a 10-5 lead again in game two before the Bulldogs tied the game 14-14. UNCA took the lead behind the serve of Raquel Miotto and lead 16-14 before Elon knotted the game at 18-18 on a kill from Mandy Wilson. Elon gained the lead before UNCA tied the game again at 22-22. The Phoenix took the lead back on a kill from Emily Lucci to go up 23-22. Elon held onto the lead and ended the game on an ace from Lucci, 30-26. The Phoenix tallied a .452 hitting percentage during the game.
After a 10-10 tie in the third game, the Bulldogs took a 20-14 advantage on a kill from Lauren Ficker. Elon then scored the next four points behind the offense of Lucci and Jessica Barrow to cut the lead to two at 20-18. UNCA maintained the lead until the Phoenix tied the game 24-24 on a ball handling error by the Bulldogs. The game saw ties at every point from 24 until 31 when UNCA pulled away, scoring back-to-back points on a kill from McDaniel and a block from McDaniel and Heather Burns to end the game 33-31.
Elon (0-1) got down early in game four as UNCA took a 16-6 lead. The Phoenix then scored the next six points behind the serve of Natalie Moore to close within four at 16-12. Elon used a 7-3 run to knot the game at 19-19 on a block by Lucci and Ashley Ruckert. The Bulldogs kept the lead, but Elon again tied the game at 21-21 on an UNCA attack error. The Phoenix scored the next three points on another attack error and on back-to-back blocks by Westphal and Lucci and by Moore and Lucci to go ahead 24-22. UNCA tied the game at 25-25 after an Elon attack error and the two teams knotted the game two more times, the last one coming at 28-28. Elon closed the game 30-28 on back-to-back kills from Wilson and Barrow, tying the match at 2-2 and forcing a fifth game.
Elif Unlu led the Bulldogs with 15 kills while also recording seven digs. Ficker and Ashley Wrightenberry each posted 11 kills. Libero Raquel Miotto paced the defense with 24 digs while Bagge tallied 11 digs, along with nine kills and two service aces. McDaniel notched 45 assists, two service aces and eight digs for the Bulldogs.
Elon was paced by Juliena Gigon who posted a double-double with 15 digs and 15 kills while notching a .355 hitting percentage. Lucci recorded 16 kills, seven digs and six total blocks for the Phoenix. In her collegiate debut, Wilson posted 12 kills while also racking up eight digs. Barrow notched a career-high 14 kills while also posting two service aces. Moore notched 64 assists and 10 digs for Elon while Emily Downing posted 11 digs.
Elon returns to action on Friday, Sept. 1 in the Phoenix Classic. The Phoenix will battle TCU at 7 p.m. in Alumni Gym.
Charleston Southern 3, The Citadel 0
North Charleston, S.C. ? Samantha Parisi recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs while Taylor Stanke notched 12 kills of her own but The Citadel’s .193 hitting percentage was not enough to overcome a scrappy Charleston Southern defense as the Bulldogs fell, 3-0. Emily Hill set up 33 assists and recorded 12 digs in the Bulldog effort. Game scores were 30-26, 30-16, 30-27.
Serving hurt the Bulldog Spikers as The Citadel (0-1) only served up five aces to 12 errors. CSU (2-2) served well throughout the night with nine aces and only four errors. The Citadel had several bright spots throughout the evening, including outdigging CSU, 49-48, and equaling the Bucs in kills with 44 while only making four more attacks than CSU.
The Bulldogs fell prey to a tough Charleston Southern block, as the Bucs recorded 7.5 blocks on The Citadel offense. The Bulldog defense recorded three blocks on CSU. Stanke, a freshman from Austin, Texas, literally had a good start to the match and season as she recorded the first point for The Citadel in all three games. Stanke also recorded the Bulldogs’ lone block solo of the night.
“They had a good blocking team and we did not serve receive well tonight,” said head coach Carolyn Geiger. “It was nice to get the first match jitters out of the way. We need to work on our serving and we need to work on stopping an opponent’s run. I have to hand it to CSU, they played some scrappy, scrappy defense. We fought hard tonight, especially in game one.”
The Bulldogs dropped a close game one, 30-26, despite outkilling Charleston Southern 21-15 and outhitting the Bucs, .255 to .204. Serving was a deciding factor in the opening set with the Bucs serving up two aces and no service errors while the Bulldogs were not able to record an ace but did put up four service errors. Parisi led The Citadel with eight kills while Stanke added five.
The Bulldogs held a 6-3 lead early in game two off two Stanke aces. The teams battled back and forth before, at the 12-9 Citadel mark, the Bucs took off on an 11-0 run which was eventually halted by an Edwards kill. CSU continued to roll through the rest of the game off a struggling Bulldog offense that hit .121. The Bucs rolled to a 30-16 victory behind 19 kills (to The Citadel’s nine) while hitting .417 in the game.
The Citadel improved their hitting in game three, swinging for a .171 mark while the CSU offense stalled, hitting only .107. The Bulldogs came close late in the match to pulling even, rallying for a few points near the end, but an Ashley Winter service error sealed The Citadel’s fate.
The Citadel returns to action this weekend as they travel to Hampton, Va., for the Hampton Invitational. The Bulldogs open the tournament with North Carolina Central on Friday, Sept .1 at 11 a.m.