Furman 3, UCF 1
Orlando, FL -- Junior setter Courtney Stewardson recorded a double-double, and Chibuzo Aguocha led Furman with 18 kills as the Paladins defeated Central Florida 3-1 (30-26, 31-29, 24-30, 30-26) in the evening nightcap at the UCF Classic on Friday night.
Stewardson, a junior from Apple Valley, Minn., recorded 40 assists and collected a career-high 20 defensive saves for the Paladins. This marked the first double-double match of the season for Stewardson and the 13th of her career. It also marked the second double-double match of the season for Furman, as Aguocha recorded 24 kills and 14 digs in a 3-1 victory over East Carolina last weekend.
Aguocha, the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week, led Furman
(3-2) with 18 kills, and Alison West also reached double-figures with 11 kills.
Along with Stewardson, Ally Hock and Stephanie Smith also reached double-figures in digs with 15 and 13, respectively. Kerry Wooten and Nicole Palazzo each tallied six blocks as Furman recorded a season high 16 total blocks.
Schanell Neiderworder led UCF with 17 kills, while Lorin Lucas added 15.
Tricia Scott tallied 19 digs, and Leah Alexander contributed with 35 assists.
With the win, Furman improves to 3-2 overall. The Paladins return to action on Saturday as Furman faces Samford in its final match at the UCF Classic at 11 a.m.
Utah Valley State 3, Furman 2
Orlando, Fla. -- Jessica Endres paced three players in double-digit kills as Utah Valley State defeated Furman 3-2 (30-25, 23-30, 30-28, 23-30,15-13) in the opening match of the UCF Classic on Friday morning.
Endres tallied 20 kills for the Wolverines, and Ashley Dallin and Camie Manwill added 14 and 13, respectively. UVSC (2-3) also collected double-figure digs from Manwill (17) and Chelsea Baugh (15).
Furman (2-2) was led by sophomore Alison West with a career-high 21 kills.
Kerry Wooten added 15 kills, and Chibuzo Aguocha tallied her second double-double game of the season with 15 kills and 10 digs.
Stephanie Smith led the defensive effort for the Paladins with a career-high 19 digs. Wooten and Nicole Palazzo each added four blocks for Furman.
The loss drops Furman to 2-2 on the season. The Paladins return to action later on Friday evening as Furman faces tournament host Central Florida at
7 p.m.
Georgia Southern 3, Lafayette 0
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? The Eagle volleyball team won its fourth match of the season Friday, defeating the Lafayette Leopards 3-0 (30-22, 30-28, 30-24) in the first match of the Jacksonville Crispers Invitational at Jacksonville University.
“For our first match on the road, we came in here and played really well,” said head coach Nicole McCray. “We haven’t played a team yet that was as defensively sound as Lafayette and for us to win in three [games] says a lot about our team.”
Game one was close through the first 20 points, but the Eagles pulled away thanks to an impressive defensive performance by senior Jennifer Schenk who had three block assists in the frame. GSU led early in the second game, but after a 9-2 scoring run by Lafayette the stanza stayed neck-and-neck. The duo of Bailey Coleman and Jennifer Charles had a combined four timely block assists that helped the Eagles edge out the Leopards 30-28. Schenk again led the Eagle defense in the third frame, recording five block assists, for a total of nine on the match, as GSU defeated Lafayette for the match win.
The Eagles held the Leopards to a .082 hitting percentage in the match, thanks in part to Schenk’s nine block assists. Junior Gorana Bacic led the GSU offense with 13 kills, and sophomore Christy Dowd added 11. In four matches this season, Dowd has 60 kills and 43 digs.
“We won this game all on defense, mostly on blocking,” added McCray. “We haven’t had a blocking match like we did today and that was the difference in the game. Our hitters did a great job staying patient and not getting frustrated with Lafayatte’s defense which shows that we’re getting better.”
College of Charleston 3, Weber State 0
FULLERTON, Calif. - College of Charleston's Tiffany Blum tallied 11 kills and teammate Annie Uthe added 10 more while hitting .304 on the night to lead the Cougars to a 3-0 (30-26, 30-27, 30-21) victory over Weber State in the first match of the Four Points Titan Classic here.
College of Charleston improved to 2-0 overall on the young season, while the Wildcats fell to 3-4 overall.
The Cougars hit a match-high .407 in the third and final game to clinch the victory. Marie Dobrenz had a match-high 16 digs in the victory while Blum added three blocks.
College of Charleston will take on Binghamton at 4 p.m. (EDT), followed by host Cal State-Fullerton at 10 p.m. on Saturday. The CofC-Fullerton game can be heard on the World Wide Web at www.fullertontitans.cstv.com.
GSU wraps up play at the Jacksonville Crispers Invitational Saturday with matches versus Jacksonville (11 a.m.) and Southeastern Louisiana (4 p.m.).
Northern Colorado 3, Chattanooga 0
RALEIGH, N.C. ? The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga volleyball team fell 3-0 to Northern Colorado in the team’s season-opener at N.C. State’s Wolfpack Classic.
The Bears (2-2) rallied late in the first game to take the lead for the first time at 29-28. Northern Colorado hit .298 in the second game to claim a 30-15 win. In game three, the Bears scored five of the last six points to take the match with a 30-26 win.
UTC’s Kelsey Amundson recorded her first career double-double with 18 digs and a match-high 12 kills. Leslie Ball tallied eight kills to go with 10 digs and two blocks. Setter Bethany Herndon dished out 34 assists while collecting 11 digs and six kills. Libero Lara Newberry, who broke the UTC single-season digs record last season, led the Lady Mocs’ defense with 31 digs.
Northern Colorado was led by Dulcie Stone and Lizzie Rhoads who each had 12 kills.
The Lady Mocs (0-1) will face N.C. State at noon tomorrow, followed by Winthrop at 5 p.m. to close out the tournament.
TCU 3, Elon 0
ELON, N.C. ? Anna Vaughn notched 15 kills to lead the Horned Frogs of TCU to a 3-0 win over Elon in the first day of the Phoenix Classic on Friday night at Alumni Gym. TCU downed Elon 30-25, 30-23 and 30-17.
After a 12-12 tie in game one, TCU (5-1) went ahead 16-12 behind the offense of Vaughn but Elon scored six of the next eight points to knot the game 18-18 on a Horned Frog attack error. The two teams traded points and after a 20-20 tie, TCU scored the next four points on the serve of Loren Barry to take the lead for good at 24-20. The Horned Frogs hung onto the advantage and ended the game at 30-25 on a kill from LeMeita Smith.
In game two, Elon (0-2) jumped to a 10-6 advantage behind the serve of Jessica Barrow before the Horned Frogs tied the game 10-10 on a kill from Emily Allen. TCU took the lead, but Elon knotted the score at 15-15 on an Emily Lucci kill. After an 18-18 tie, TCU earned a 19-18 lead on a hitting error by Elon and held onto the advantage for the duration of the game. The Horned Frogs pushed the lead to five at 27-22 on a block by Vaughn and Nirelle Hampton and finished the game 30-23 on a kill from Vaughn.
Up by three at 16-13 in game three, the Horned Frogs went on a 7-0 run behind the serve of Hampton to take a 10-point edge, 23-13. Elon earned two points back to make it 23-15 before TCU scored the next five points to go ahead 28-15 on a kill from Lauren Otto. TCU, who hit .538 in the game, hung onto the lead a finished the game at 30-17.
Vaughn hit .609 for the game with only one attack error on 23 attempts. Smith posted 11 kills and three total blocks while Otto recorded 10 kills and five digs. Hampton posted 35 assists, five kills and five digs while Calli Corley recorded nine digs.
Barrow led Elon with 11 kills and only one error on 17 attempts for a .588 hitting percentage. Emily Downing paced the defense with seven digs while Natalie Moore posted 18 assists.
In the first match of the day, UAB (2-2) downed Navy (0-2) in three games by scored of 30-27, 30-25 and 30-16.
After an 18-18 tie in the first game, UAB scored the next four points to go ahead 22-18 on a service ace from Fernanda Domingos. Navy battled back to within one but UAB held onto the edge and finished he game 30-27 on a kill from Ivana Bozic. In game two, UAB used a 7-0 run to take a 20-13 lead after a 13-13 tie. The Blazers held onto a lead for the rest of the game and finished 30-25. In the third game UAB jumped to an early 13-6 lead and controlled the rest of the game to finish at 30-16 on a kill from Domingos.
Bozic led the Blazers with 16 kills and 10 digs. Domingos posted 12 kills while Casey Dent notched 11. Nevena Stefanov posted 42 assists and six digs for the Blazers.
Beth McArthur led the Midshipmen with 13 kills and only one error on 21 attempts for a .571 hitting percentage. Jessie Sims paced the squad with 13 digs while also recording eight kills. Marissa Watson tallied 16 assists and Mariellen Carnes added 13.
The Phoenix Classic continues on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. with Navy and TCU facing off. Elon and UAB take the court at 12:30 followed by TCU and UAB at 4:30 and Elon and Navy at 7.
North Florida 3, Appalachian State 1
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? The Mountaineers’ comeback fell short as the Appalachian State University volleyball team fell to tournament-host North Florida, 3-1 (30-27, 30-22, 27-30, 30-26), Friday, Sept. 1 at the UNF Labor Day Classic.
With the loss, the Mountaineers fall to 2-2 on the season, while the Lady Ospreys improve to 2-3 overall. ASU and UNF came out nearly even in most categories as the visitors compiled 62 kills and a .181 attack percentage compared to the home team’s 59 kills and .173 hitting percentage.
Senior Chrissy Finch (Lake Zurich, Ill.) led the team with a double-double, putting up 11 kills while recording a team-high 19 digs. The outside hitter added a service ace and two block assists. Junior Lorelle Rau (Oakland Park, Fla.) continued her solid setting season with 56 assists. She also tallied a team second-best 16 digs and three kills.
Juniors Brittany Zahn (Charlotte, N.C.) and Dianna Thomas (Mobile, Ala.) and senior Amy Lewis (Chesnee, S.C.) joined Finch in double-digit kills with 15, 14 and 11, respectively. Zahn also tied a match-high with three service aces.
The Lady Ospreys were led by Maegan Weisert’s double-double with 16 kills and 16 digs. Tara Taylor was solid defensively with a match-high 20 digs, while setter Jenna Thomas dished out 51 assists in the win. Amy Stroder and Allison O’Neill chipped in double-digit kills with 14 and 11, respectively.
In the opening game, ASU jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead prompted by two UNF hitting errors. The Mountaineers extended their lead to four at 6-4, before the Lady Ospreys took advantage of three-straight Appalachian errors to take a 7-6 lead. North Florida never trailed again in the game, going on to take the first contest, 30-27.
Again, Appalachian took a 2-0 lead to start game two, before North Florida grabbed its first lead at 7-6. In a mirror image of game one, UNF never trailed again, this time going on to a 30-22 win and a 2-0 match lead.
Like in games one and two, the Mountaineers took a 2-0 lead to open play in game three. Amy Stroder gave the Lady Ospreys their first lead of the game at 4-3 off two-consecutive service aces. ASU once again regained the lead at 6-5 and extended it to as many as six points at 27-21, as Zahn rattled off four-straight serves. UNF pulled a mini-comeback, winning two-straight Mountaineer game-points, before ASU finished off a 30-27 win off a kill by Carla Durham (Hiram, Ga.).
Although the Mountaineers once again put the first point on the board, the Lady Ospreys came back for their first game lead at 5-4 in game four. The lead became as many as five at 18-13, until ASU rattled off three-consecutive points to pull within two at 18-16. Appalachian tied the game two more times, the final time at 26, before North Florida used a 4-0 run to take a 30-26 game-win and 3-1 match victory.
Head coach Chad Callihan looks for his 100th career win as the Mountaineers continue tournament action, Saturday, Sept. 2 at 10 a.m. against Idaho State. ASU concludes action with a 4:30 p.m. match up with Murray State. Earlier in the day, MSU defeated ISU, 3-1. Live stats can be found for all the action Saturday by clicking here.
Morehead State 3, Davidson 2
Ohio 3, Davidson 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. - The Davidson Wildcats volleyball team suffered two losses on the second day of the Mizuno Wildcat Classic, dropping a thrilling 3-2 (30-23, 23-30, 30-20, 21-30, 7-15) decision against Morehead State in the afternoon match before falling 3-0 (30-26, 30-27, 30-12) to No. 15 Ohio in the nightcap at Belk Arena.
Sophomore middle blocker Kittery Neale turned in two solid matches for the Wildcats, pacing the Davidson (3-3) attack with 19 kills and a .600 hitting percentage in the first match, and then adding seven kills and four digs in the second.
Senior outside hitter Liz Williamson recorded 17 kills, against Morehead State and chipped in seven against Ohio, while junior opposite Katie Pierucci touched double-figures in the first match, recording 13 matches against Morehead State.
Game One: Davidson (2) vs. Morehead State (3) In their closest match of the tournament, Davidson took a commanding lead in game one behind seven kills and a .400 hitting percentage from Williamson.
The Cats won five straight points early in the game to pull ahead 6-2 and held the lead the entire game, leading by as much as 21-14 at one point.
In the back and forth match, game two went to Morehead State, despite four kills from Pierucci and a couple of service aces from Williamson. The Eagles jumped out to the early lead, but Davidson narrowed the gap to trail by just a point at 8-7 before Morehead State began to pull away for a 30-23 victory to knot the match at a game apiece.
After the break, Davidson came back for a commanding 30-20 victory, outhitting the Eagles .312 to just .135 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Senior setter Jenna Dykstra recorded ten assists and two kills in the game, and Pierucci and Williamson each added a couple to the balanced attack.
Morehead State's Diana Zipp tallied six kills to give the Eagles a 30-21 game-four victory. The Eagles outhit the Wildcats .389 to .268 to force the decisive game five and then took full advantage of the opportunity, recording a 15-7 win to take the match. Davidson got down 1-5 in the final game and could not overcome the deficit, as the Eagles went on to the easy
15-7 win in game five.
Game Two: Davidson (0) vs. No. 15 Ohio (3) The Wildcats battled Ohio close in game one, before surrendering a 30-26 decision. The score was tied three times early before the Bobcats began to pull away. Williamson's three kills in the game kept the score close, and Pierucci added a kill late in the match to pull the 'Cats to 28-26, but two straight kills from Ellen Herman put the game away for the Bobcats.
Davidson fought and scraped again in game two, before eventually suffering a
30-27 loss. Each Pierucci and Williamson collected four kills in the match, which again saw the Wildcats close at the end. Davidson fought off two game points -one on a kill from Neale, before Herman again punched home the game point.
After the break, the 'Cats seemed spent and unable to keep pace with the rejuvenated Bobcats, who found some offense in the locker room. Stephanie Blackburn totaled seven kills in the decisive game, and Michaele Blackburn served six straight points for the Bobcats as Ohio took the final game of the match 30-12.
Davidson will conclude its Classic with a 12:30 p.m. match against Liberty and an 8:00 p.m. match with Portland.
Catamount Volleyball Secures First Win; Beats Charlotte in Five at Big Orange Bash
Senior Heather Koontz leads Western with career-high 23 kills versus 49ers
Western Carolina 3, Charlotte 2
Clemson, S.C. ? Led by a trio of seniors, the Western Carolina Catamount volleyball team secured its first win of the 2006 season, rallying from down 2-0 to knock off the Charlotte 49ers in five, 3-2 (25-30, 23-30, 30-25, 30-27, 15-7), Friday evening at the Clemson Big Orange Bash. The win evened WCU’s record on the day as the Catamounts were swept by the host Tigers, 3-0, in the morning.
Western (1-5) was led by a career-high 23 kills by senior Heather Koontz in the victory over the 49ers. Koontz posted a .413 attack percentage versus Charlotte, only committing four errors on 46 total attempts. Her classmate, Meghan Boyle, added a double-double performance, killing 11 and recording 10 digs. Also reaching double-digits in kills was senior Krista Neumann, who was seeing her first action of the season on Friday, with 14 and Kate Willard added 10 digs in the win.
“It is wonderful to get that first win of the season, especially against a good team like Charlotte,” said second-year head coach Stephanie Dragan, who moved to within one win of 200 for her career. “The team saw tonight what kind of intensity level it takes to win and hopefully that will carry over. The seniors (Koontz, Boyle, and Neumann) did a great job for us offensively and another senior, Kate Willard, and freshman Liz Rondone stepped it up defensively ? Liz, especially, in game five.”
Rondone led the team with 25 digs, while her freshman counterpart, setter Katie Hennessey, dished out a career-best 54 assists and killed 11 for a second WCU double-double. Junior Meredith Harmon just missed double figures with nine kills with a pair of blocks at the net. Freshman Brittny Johnson led Western with four total blocks, including a pair of solo stops.
Despite hitting .333 (16 kills, 2 errors on 42 attempts) and .400 (19 kills, 5 errors, 35 attempts), respectively, in the first two games, Western found itself in a 2-0 hole to Charlotte and was on the verge of its fifth-consecutive, three-game sweep. However, in game three, the Catamounts only trailed by as many as three, 4-1, early on and led by as many as eight en route to the 30-25 win. Western took the lead for good at 14-13 off a block by Rondone and Boyle to continue the match.
In game four, WCU led early before the 49ers rallied to take the lead. Yet, Charlotte could never pull away by more than three as the Catamounts kept scratching. Back-to-back Koontz kills tied the game at 23, forcing the 49ers to call a timeout. After the stoppage, Charlotte pulled out by two, 25-23, before Western scored seven of the last nine points to win, 30-27, and force a game five.
In the rally fifth, Western broke serve with a Harmon kill and followed with a Neumann service ace to take control early. The Catamounts led by as many as seven before Rondone finished off the comeback with a service ace for the winner.
“Coming back from down two games, especially after the way things had gone in the morning, is extremely difficult. It just does not happen all that often. I am very proud of the way the team dug deep and fought back for the win,” Dragan said.
Western opened play in the Big Orange Bash on Friday morning with a 3-0 (30-21, 30-17, 30-7) loss to the host Clemson Tigers. Hennessey led Western with eight kills and no errors in the match for a .571 attack percentage, while also handing out 14 assists. Rondone led both squads with 16 digs in the losing effort.
“We mentally shut down,” said Dragan on the loss. “We became hesitant both on offense and defense and played tight. It was almost like we were afraid to make a mistake. But, we had a long talk following the match and I think that helped calm things down and prepared us for Charlotte.”
Western concludes play in the Big Orange Bash on Saturday morning, facing the South Carolina Gamecocks at 10:00 am and the Tennessee State Tigers at 3:00 pm at Jervey Gym. Fans can follow all of the action live with GameTracker on www.CatamountSports.com <http://www.catamountsports.com/> .