Elon 3, UNC Greensboro 2
ELON, N.C. ? Mandy Wilson posted a career-high 24 kills to lead the Phoenix to a 3-2 win over Southern Conference foe UNC Greensboro on Tuesday night in Alumni Gym in both teams conference opener. Elon won the first game 30-28 before dropping the second game 27-30. The Phoenix came back to take game three 30-23 but fell 24-30 in the fourth game before taking the decisive fifth game 15-11.
UNCG (9-4, 0-1 SoCon) went up 5-3 early in the fifth game before Elon tied it 5-5 on a Spartan attack error. UNCG maintained the lead at 6-5 but Elon score the next four points to go ahead 9-6. The Phoenix kept the lead and finished the game 15-11 on an attack error by UNCG. Elon registered a .286 hitting percentage in the game while the Spartans posted a .048 percentage.
In the first game of the match, Elon jumped to an early 9-2 lead and extended the advantage to 11 at 20-9 on a kill from Juliena Gigon. But the Spartans chipped away at the lead and came within two at 23-25. Elon pushed the lead back to five at 29-24 but UNCG came with one at 29-28 behind the blocking of Liz Benzschawel and Lauren Keiser. Up by one at 29-28, the Phoenix finished the game 30-28 on a kill from Gigon.
After a 13-13 tie in game two, Elon took the lead and pushed it to as much as four at 19-15 on a Gigon kill before the Spartans knotted the game 23-23 on a Phoenix attack error. After two more ties, the last one coming at 26-26, UNCG took the lead on an Elon service error. Ahead 28-27, the Spartans closed the game on a kill from Benzschawel and a block by Benzschawel and Branagan Fuller to win 30-27.
In the third game, Elon (3-5, 1-0 SoCon) took an early 9-5 lead and extended that edge to six at 18-12 on a kill from Wilson. The Phoenix hung on to the advantage and went up by as much as eight at 26-18 before closing the game 30-23 on a Spartan attack error. Elon used 18 kills and only five errors on 36 attempts to posted a .361 hitting percentage in the game.
In game four, the Phoenix again went up 9-5 on a Wilson kill. Elon took a five-point lead at 15-10 on a service ace from Brooke Pickard before the Spartans went on a 6-1 run behind the offense of Fuller and Hilary Overby to knot the game 16-16. Elon took the lead after a 17-17 tie and went up 23-20 before the Spartans scored three straight points to tie the game 23-23. After a 24-24 tie, a kill from Kaitlyn Nortz put UNCG ahead 25-24. The Spartans score the next five points, behind three blocks, to finish the game 30-24 and force the fifth game. UNCG hit .333 for the game with 14 kills and only four errors on 30 attempts.
Theresa Hart led the Spartans’ offense with 18 kills while also picking up seven digs. Nortz posted 17 kills, eight digs and five total blocks. Catherine Hanners posted 17 digs while Overby added 10 digs along with nine kills. Lisa Fawell handed out 57 assists and added 11 digs.
Wilson led the Phoenix with 24 kills while Gigon posted 18 kills and a .389 hitting percentage after just four errors on 36 attempts. Gigon also added 11 digs and five total blocks. Britany Westphal added 14 kills for Elon. Pickard led the defense with 16 digs and added three service aces. Emily Downing posted 14 digs while Emily Lucci contributed 12 digs along with eight kills. Natalie Moore tallied 65 assists, nine digs and four total blocks.
Elon returns to action on Friday, Sept. 15 in a 4 p.m. match at Wofford. UNC Greensboro will travel to Furman for a 7 p.m. match on Friday.
Mercer 3, Georgia Southern 0
MACON, Ga. ? The Mercer volleyball team defeated Georgia Southern for the first time since
2000 at the University Center on Tuesday night, 3-0 (33-31, 30-19, 30-27).
Mercer (5-6) and Georgia Southern (5-2) battled on even terms in game one, with neither team
gaining more than a four-point advantage. The Bears trailed most of the way, until a kill by
junior Julie Darty tied the score at 25 apiece. Mercer gained a two point advantage, 29-27, on a
service ace by sophomore Amanda Davis and went on to win, 33-31, with the deciding point on
a kill by senior Kellie Violette.
In the second game, the Bears jumped out to an early 11-4 lead behind the strong offense attack
of Darty and Violette, forcing GSU head coach Nicole McCray called a timeout to regroup her
team. The Bulldogs slowed Mercer’s momentum, scoring the next three points, but the Bears
answered back and held on strong to take the second game, 30-19.
In game three, the Bears led the Eagles at the 15-14 mark when a kill by Violette ignited a 4-0
run to give the Bears some breathing room. Georgia Southern could not regain the lead and
Mercer took the win, 30-27.
Darty and Violette led the offense for the Bears with 13 kills apiece. Three Mercer players
recorded digs in the double figures. Liz Kane led the defense with 18 digs, and Claire Tucker and
Karen Dorris had 14 and 12 digs, respectively. Sophomore setter Kelly Jansen dished out 42
assists.
Christy Dowd, a sophomore outside hitter, led the Eagles with nine kills. Libero Staci Anderson
recorded match-high 21 digs and Mae Chabra handed out 29 assists.
“I’m very pleased with how we came out focused, never looking back and consistently executed
our plan of attack,” said head coach Noelle Hughes. “Tonight’s victory was a huge win and I just
hope that we can carry this momentum into the weekend.”
The Bears head to Indiana for the IU Classic on Friday and Saturday, where they will face
Southern Methodist, Indiana, and UT-Chattanooga.
Davidson 3, Charlotte 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Sophomore middle blocker Kittery Neale posted a season-high 20 kills to lift the Davidson Wildcats to a 3-1 (30-23, 30-20, 28-30, 30-23) win over cross-town rival Charlotte on Tuesday night at Belk Arena.
Neale tallied 20 kills in just 32 swings, hitting a team-leading .531, to pace the Davidson (7-5) attack. Junior outside hitter Katie Pierucci added
14 kills, and senior outside hitter Liz Williamson had 12 kills and four service aces for the Wildcats. SoCon player of the week, senior setter Jenna Dykstra collected 45 assists, as four Wildcat players posted double-digits digs in a balanced defensive effort. Junior libero Courtney Cron led the defense with 15, and junior defensive specialist Lindsey Woeste (12), Williamson (11) and Dykstra (11) were big contributors as well.
As a team, Davidson led the 49ers in kills 60-53, in blocks 22-10, and outhit Charlotte (7-5) .242 to just .094.
Neale's big night started in game one, when she posted six kills in just ten attempts. The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead, winning the first three points behind a couple of Williamson aces', and went on to lead by as many as 22-11. The Niners put together a couple 3-0 runs late in the game to tighten the score, but Williamson punched home the game point from Dykstra to give the Wildcats a 30-23 victory.
The second game was tighter, with the score evened nine times before the 'Cats started to pull away. With things knotted at 11, Davidson went on a 4-0 run bedhind Dykstra's strong serving, and then won four straight points later in the game to put ahead a comfortable 24-18. Pierucci posted five kills, as the 'Cats outhit Charlotte .286 to -.086 to take an easy 30-20 win and control of the match.
Behind six kills from Atlantic 10 player of the week Cori Dayton, Charlotte took game three by a narrow 30-28 to stay alive. Charlotte took an early
12-8 lead, but after Davidson won three straight points, the lead was tied five times. The 'Cats took a late 28-26 lead, but surrendered the next two points to knot the score. The Niners, who outhit the Wildcats .245 to .125 in the back-and-forth game, won the next point to pull ahead before Dayton put away the game-winner to force game four.
Given another opportunity to take the match, Davidson did not disappoint in game four. Neale posted seven kills, hitting .500 in her most dominant game of the night, as the Wildcats dominated the Niners .300 to .000 in hitting percentage. With the score knotted at 16, Davidson began to pull away, as Cron served five straight points -including two kills from Neale and one from Williamson, to give the 'Cats a 21-17 lead they would never relinquish.
With Davidson leading 27-23, Charlotte hitters committed three straight errors to deliver the game, by a score of 30-23, and the match.
The Wildcats will travel to compete in the Wake Forest Invitational this weekend. Davidson will open with Winthrop at 4:30 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 15, and on Saturday, face host Wake Forest (12:30 p.m.) and George Washington (4:30 p.m.).
The Citadel 3, Winston-Salem State 0
Winston-Salem, N.C.. ? The Citadel Volleyball team was in rare form Tuesday night, eclipsing their 2005 win total with a dominating 3-0 sweep at Winston-Salem State. The Bulldog offense was running on all cylinders, outhitting the Rams .438 to .131 as redshirt senior Samantha Parisi led all hitters with 18 kills.
Sophomore Rachel Sanders played one of the best matches of the young 2006 season as she recorded 11 kills, three service aces and eight digs. Freshman Taylor Stanke was a powerful presence on the front row, recording 11 kills as she hit .647 and recording 2.5 blocks (one solo, three assisted).
“I’m very proud of our performance tonight,” said head coach Carolyn Geiger.
“I am proud of the corrections our girls made tonight. We minimized our errors and performed well as a whole team. Across the board, everyone played very well tonight.”
The Citadel (5-3) recorded their second 3-0 victory over Winston-Salem State
(1-11) this season with the first coming at the Hampton Invitational as the Bulldogs finished second in that tournament. The Citadel will host the Rams for their third and final contest of the season on Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. in McAlister Field House. Winston-Salem State is currently 0-3 against Southern Conference teams this season, falling to the Bulldogs twice and dropping a 3-0 decision at Wofford last week.
The Citadel started the first game a little sluggish before jumping out to a
23-13 lead off a run that was capped off by back-to-back Stanke blocks, followed by back-to-back Stanke kills. The Citadel, who only hit .250 in the first game, capitalized on a stagnant WSSU offense that hit -.125 as the Bulldogs took the 30-19 first game win.
The Bulldog Spikers hit a dominating .516 in game two, but Winston-Salem held close the entire game as the Rams hit .400 in the game. The Rams led by as much as four at the 10-6 mark and then again at the 13-9 mark, but the Bulldogs rallied back in a close game that featured 13 tie scores. The Citadel pulled away at the end as Stanke and Parisi traded off kills for four consecutive points and Stanke put down another kill to seal the 30-26 game two victory.
The Citadel dominated in game three, leading by as much as 11 at the 16-5 mark. At that point, Sanders had rattled off all three of her aces in the match, shaking up what had been a tough Rams defense in the previous game.
Winston-Salem State was forced to use their final time out at that point but the Bulldogs were just too far ahead as The Citadel went on to win, 30-16.
The Citadel next travels to West Point, N.Y., for the Army of One Classic as Tuesday’s match kicked off an eight match road swing that doesn’t bring the Bulldogs back to McAlister Field House until Sept. 27. For complete coverage of Bulldog volleyball, visit the official home of The Citadel Athletics at CitadelSports.com.
Wofford 3, Radford 2
The Wofford volleyball squad fought their way to a 3-2 (30-28, 16-30, 31-29, 28-30, 15-11) victory against the Radford Highlanders Tuesday night in Benjamin Johnson Arena to improve to 4-1 overall.
Wofford won the first and third games but Radford responded to each victory, winning to force the deciding game. But Wofford prevailed in front of a home crowd of 176 to earn their second consecutive victory.
“This was a huge win for us,” head coach Corey Helle said. “We’ve played very well in front of our home fans and I hope we can keep it up going into our match against Gardner-Webb (Wednesday, Sept. 13) and the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Classic (Sept. 15-16).”
Freshman middle blocker Shanna Hughes led the team with 15 kills on 34 attempts for a team-high .324 hitting percentage. With Tuesday night’s performance, Hughes nearly doubled her total kills on the season and now has 33 in five games.
Sophomore Liz Sheets had 13 kills and leads the squad with 52 total. Freshmen Sarah Palmer and Sarah Twitty also had double-digit kills with 10 each.
Junior Lisa Lindemenn had five service aces, three of which were on consecutive serves. She leads the squad with 15 aces.
“Lisa did a great job of getting us points when we needed them,” Helle said. “When you can score that quickly it gives you a big advantage.”
Senior Shana Glenn’s defensive effort saved the team on several plays. She tallied 27 digs in the match. The Terriers had four other players with double-digit digs: freshmen Sarah Twitty (20), Palmer (18), Joanna Suddath (11) and sophomore Carolyn Rivers (11).
Lindsey Poole had a team-high 18 kills for Radford while Rachel Newton provided the defense for the Highlanders with 36 digs.
“(Radford) played solid defense tonight,” Helle said. “We really had to work to get points off our volleys. I’m glad we were able to put it away when we did.”
The Terriers will take on the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs at home Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. They will get a day off after the match before hosting the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Volleyball Classic Sept. 15-16 at Wofford.
Gardner-Webb 3, Western Carolina 0
Boiling Springs, N.C. ? Western Carolina was out hit .339-to-.175 for the match as the home standing Gardner-Webb Bulldogs handed the Catamounts a 3-0 (30-25, 30-25, 30-27) setback on Tuesday night in non-conference action at the Paul Porter Arena.
Western (2-10) finished with three players recording seven kills apiece in the loss. Junior Meredith Harmon continued her solid hitting effort over the past week, committing just two errors on 14 total attempts for a .357 attack percentage, adding three total blocks including two solo stops. Harmon has hit a team-best .379 (41 kills, 8 errors, 87 total attacks) over the past four matches for the Catamounts. Also recording seven kills for Western was senior Heather Koontz and freshman Brittny Johnson, who also led the squad with four total blocks including three solo stops.
Freshman setter Katie Hennessey dished out 26 assists in the losing effort, while her classmate Liz Rondone was the lone Catamount to reach double-digits in digs, finishing with a match-high 10.
Gardner-Webb (3-7) was led by sophomore Bethany Martin with a career-best 16 kills and 14 kills from Ashley Pridgeon on a .500 attack percentage. A third Bulldog just missed double figures as Audra Harrison finished with nine kills and a team-high eight digs.
Western Carolina opens its home season this Friday and Saturday at the Ramsey Center, hosting the Catamount Clash V tournament. The Catamounts will host High Point, Kennesaw State, Kent State, and Valparaiso in a round-robin tournament that gets underway at 10:00 am on Friday morning. WCU has two matches on Friday, facing High Point at 2:00 pm and Kent State at 7:00 pm.