College of Charleston 3, Western Carolina 0
The College of Charleston volleyball team led the entire match en route to the 3-0 win over the Western Carolina Catamounts. With the win, Charleston improves to 12-6 overall, including 7-1 in conference play. Western Carolina falls to 2-6 in the SoCon and 7-16 overall.“I was very happy with the way that the team played tonight,” said Head Coach Jason Kepner. “We communicated much better today than we did on Tuesday. It was a good win to help prepare us for a tough match on Saturday against Furman.”
Charleston opened the match with an 8-1 run, but Western Carolina scored six points in a row to make it a 9-7 game. After a five point run, CofC saw its lead extend to 18-8, which forced the Catamounts to take a timeout. WCU scored the next two points before the Cougars put the game out of reach, scoring 10 of the last 19 points to win game one 30-18.
CofC took game two in dominating fashion, outscoring the Catamounts 30-9. A service error by Emily Sawin narrowed Charleston’s lead to one (4-3), but that would be as close as Western Carolina would come. Charleston held a 24-8 advantage, causing WCU to take a timeout. CofC went on to score seven of the final eight points to seal the win.
The Catamounts put together their most impressive performance of the evening in game three. Charleston opened with a 4-0 run, but WCU answered with three consecutive points before tying the game at six. Western Carolina cut Charleston’s 17-13 lead and tied the game at 21. Three consecutive Cougar points forced WCU to take a time out. Charleston scored four of the next six points, causing a second time out by the Catamounts. A kill by Annie Uthe sealed the 30-23 win, and the match for CofC.
In addition to Uthe’s match-high 12 kills, Sawin tallied 10, with Tiffany Blum and Cole Dawley recording nine a piece. Also adding kills to the win were Lindsey Kane and Whitney Russell with six each. CofC combined for eight service aces. Kane paced the team with 39 assists on the night.
Defensively for the Cougars, Blum, Uthe, and Kane led the team with three blocks each while Dawley added two of her own. Sawin and Russell also contributed to the defensive totals with one block each. Libero Megan Parkerson notched 11 digs in the victory.
For the Catamounts, Ali Rook and Jelena Jakovjevic led the team with six kills with Meredith Harmon and Katie Hennessey recording four each. LaTonia Cunningham and Kara Lynzee Brooks were also in on the effort recording two and one block, respectively.
Harmon led the team with five blocks while Jakovjevic added four to the total. Three additional Catamounts combined for seven blocks. Hennessey led the team in digs with 19.
The College of Charleston returns to the court Saturday, October 13 when it faces SoCon leader Furman in a 2 p.m. match. Charleston also faces Wofford Sunday, Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. Live stats will be available for each match at www.cofcsports.com
Appalachian State 3, Davidson 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Fourteen blocks, including seven by Carla Durham, propelled the Appalachian State volleyball team to a four game win at Davidson, 30-26, 30-28, 26-30, and 30-26. Durham also contributed 14 kills as the Mountaineers improved to 5-3 in Southern Conference play.
The Apps found themselves in a 17-11 hole in game one before a pair of five-point runs gave the visitors a 23-20 lead. The teams would tie two more times in the opening set before Lauren Swecker put the game away at 30-26 with one of her seven kills in the match. Appalachian had fifteen kills and eight errors, amounting to a .149 hitting percentage, the lowest total of the match.
Game two was another close battle, as the Mountaineers never led by more than four points. Durham’s eighth kill of the match gave the team a 25-21 lead that would hold as Lorelle Rau blocked an attack to win the game 30-28. Rau finished the contest with four blocks, 45 assists, five kills, and 12 digs. Caroline Sedon was also effective at the net on defense, with five stuffs in the match.
The homestanding Wildcats fought back from elimination after the intermission, winning the third set 30-26. Brittany Zahn, the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, collected four of her team-leading 17 kills in the game. Davidson led by as many as eight in game three, but the Mountaineers closed the gap with a late run. The team was unable to complete the comeback despite two of the squad’s six aces in the set. Heather Kale and Dianna Thomas each had two aces in the match, while Zahn and Charissa Clearman each pitched in one.
Thomas contributed three of her 14 kills and seven of her 17 digs in the deciding fourth game. ASU broke a 12-12 tie with a six-point run to take the lead for good, as the squad finished the game out as Zahn picked up a pair of kills to give the Mountaineers a 30-26 decision to finish the match.
The win moves ASU into a tie for fifth place with UNCG Greensboro, while it was the fourth consecutive loss for the Wildcats, as the team falls to 7-14 and 1-7 in the Southern Conference. The Apps are now 8-12 on the season.
Appalachian closes out the road trip with a 7 p.m. match at Georgia Southern on Friday.