UNCG 3, Western Carolina 0
CULLOWHEE, NC ? The UNC Greensboro volleyball team closed its two-game road trip with a 3-0 win over Western Carolina in Southern Conference volleyball action on Sunday afternoon.
Sophomore Branagan Fuller led UNCG (13-11, 6-4 SoCon) with a match-high 27 kills. The Murietta, CA native also tallied 10 digs for a double-double on the afternoon. Catherine Hanners had a team-high 19 digs while setter Lisa Fawell dished out 48 assists.
Meredith Harmon and Jelena Jakovljevic led Western Carolina (7-18, 2-8 SoCon) with 10 kills each while Liz Rondone collected 12 digs in the loss.
The first game was close in the opening moments but UNCG pulled ahead 5-3 behind several Western Carolina errors and kills from Fuller and Kaitlyn Nortz. The Spartans extended their lead to 15-8 with a 10-5 run midway through the game. UNCG wouldn’t trail the rest of the way but the Western Carolina was able to get as close as 23-17 behind kills from Jelena Jakovljevic and Katie Hennessey but couldn’t stop UNCG as they took game one, 30-26.
The second game was much closer with the teams trading points in the early goings but UNCG was able to take a 12-9 lead behind kills from Fuller, Nortz and Emily Lindborg. With a 5-0 run UNCG took a commanding 17-9 lead and never looked back. Western Carolina was able to score three consecutive points to cut the lead to 29-20 but a kill from Fuller gave the Spartans a 2-0 match lead.
UNCG never trailed in the third game and once they pulled ahead 17-10 they cruised to a 30-19 victory to clinch the sweep. The Spartans tallied 59 kills on the afternoon and hit an impressive .326 for the match. Western Carolina hit .231 for the match and recorded 41 kills in the loss.
The Spartans return to Fleming Gym Oct. 19-20 when they welcome The Citadel and College of Charleston for weekend matches. UNCG will take on The Citadel Friday night at 7 pm and conclude the weekend against College of Charleston on Saturday. First serve is set for 2 pm.
College of Charleston 3, Wofford 0
Charleston posted their third shutout of the week and the 10th of the season when it defeated Wofford 3-0 (30-14, 30-21, 30-19) in Southern Conference volleyball action.
With the win, Charleston improves to 14-6, 9-1 in the Southern Conference. Wofford falls to 2-7 in the league and 8-13 overall.
“It was a great team win. Everyone really did a nice job for us,” said Head Coach Jason Kepner. “We adapted well to the changes in the lineup that we made. We don’t have much time to rest because we have to get ready for Coastal on Tuesday.”
Tiffany Blum led the Cougars with five kills in game one. The Cougars took at 6-0 lead that forced the Terriers to use their first timeout. Wofford scored their first point on the game on a Brittany Thompson block. The Cougars answered with a point by Blum. The Cougars went on a 5-0 run before Wofford made it a 12-3 game. With CofC leading 21-10, Wofford took their second timeout. The Terriers went on a 4-0 run following the timeout, making it 23-13. Charleston only allowed the Terriers one more point before taking the game 30-14.
Freshman Ginny Phillips led the offensive effort in game two with a game high five kills, while also collecting three blocks. The Cougars began with a 4-0 lead before allowing the Terriers to make it a 5-4 game. Charleston took a timeout after Wofford narrowed the score to 9-6. The teams kept the game competitive following the timeout as Wofford scored four unanswered points, with Charleston answering with five consecutive points of their own. The Cougars and Terriers traded points on the next 10 plays, making the score 20-14. Charleston scored 10 of the final 12 points to win game two 30-21.
CofC won game three 30-19 behind Dawley’s team leading four kills. Charleston did not surrender their lead after the Terriers tied the game at two. An attack error by Wofford’s Liz Sheets extended Charleston team to 15-7 and forced the Terriers to take a timeout. CofC mounted two 6-0 runs between one Wofford point to lengthen their lead further, 21-8. A kill by Dawley sealed the game and the match for Charleston.
Leading the Cougar offense was blum with 11 kills, with Phillips collecting nine. Dawley, Annie Uthe, Lindsey Kane, Deanna Patrick, and Whitney Russell combined for 26 kills in the win. Kane paced the offensive attack with 21 assists. Blum also added two service aces, with Brooke Truxillo and Megan Parkerson adding one each.
Defensively, Phillips led the team with six assisted blocks and one dig. Uthe totaled six blocks, with Blum, Kane, Patrick, and Sarah Luers combining for eight blocks. Parkerson and Dawley led the team in digs with 15 each.
For the Terriers, Sheets led the team in kills with seven, with Stacy Byrd adding five. Joanna Suddath paced the offensive effort with 22 assists. Anna Gustafson and Sheets had three blocks each, with Byrd, Catelyn Amende, Thompson, and Suddath adding blocks in the loss.
Charleston closes their four-match homestand Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. when Coastal Carolina travels to the John Kresse Arena for the second of two meeting between the teams this season. Coastal Carolina took the first match 3-1.
Georgia Southern 3, Davidson 0
STATESBORO, Ga. --- Georgia Southern held Davidson to a -.079 hitting percentage through the first two games in a 3-0 (30-18, 30-18, 30-28) volleyball sweep Sunday afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Eagles improve to 7-15 overall and 4-6 in the Southern Conference. The Wildcats fall to 6-16, 1-8.
“This weekend was tough with two great teams,” said GSU head coach Nicole McCray. “But to come out 1-1 is very good for our team. Hopefully it’s a good start for our two home matches next weekend.”
Davidson committed 10 errors in each of the first two games and hit -.077 and -.081, respectively. Georgia Southern recorded a .212 attack percentage overall.
“We won the serving and passing battle, by far. When we served aggressively, they became very predictable. And when we passed, Mae (Chabra) and Jessica (Bradford) were able to spread the offense and that was the difference in the game.”
GSU totaled seven blocks ? four by freshman Michelle Uzoh (San Antonio, Texas) and three each by senior Gorana Bacic (Richmond, Va.) and freshman Sarah Gildersleeve (Naples, Fla.).
The Eagles never trailed in games one and two, but game three featured 15 ties and seven lead changes. The teams battled to a 20-20 tie and the largest lead by either team to that point was three. GSU won the next four points and held off a late Davidson charge to get the victory.
Bacic led the Georgia Southern offense with nine kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Four other players, Uzoh, Gildersleeve, freshman Laura Beth Lancaster (Ocala, Fla.) and junior Christy Dowd (Indianapolis, Ind.) had seven kills each.
Davidson’s Sarabeth Peele recorded a match-high 13 kills and Kittery Neale added 10.
Georgia Southern returns to action Friday when they host Furman at 7 p.m.
Chattanooga 3, Elon 0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) and senior middle blocker Sarah Bass (Baton Rouge, La.) combined for 30 kills and freshman setter Bailee Chastain (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) dished out a match-high 49 assists to lead Chattanooga (13-8, 8-1) to a 3-1 victory over Elon (13-11, 7-3) Sunday afternoon at Maclellan Gym in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Lady Mocs defeated the Phoenix 30-23, 26-30, 30-25 and 30-28 to maintain their hold on first place in the Southern Conference.
Playing the majority of the match without senior setter Bethany Herndon (Richmond, Texas), who left the match with an unspecified injury after only several plays, Chattanooga relied on a team effort to win its fourth straight match.
Trailing 9-7 in the early going, Chattanooga took control of Game 1 with a 10-2 run to go up 17-11. Elon eventually battled back to within 24-20, but that was as close as they would get as UTC wrapped the game 30-23 for a 1-0 match lead.
The Phoenix bounced back in Game 2 after trailing 7-3 as they outscored the Lady Mocs 12-3 to take a 15-10 lead. They soon extended that to 22-16 before weathering several Chattanooga rallies that eventually closed the gap to 27-25. Two kills by junior outside hitter Jessica Barrow then keyed the 3-1 run that capped off the game, 30-26.
With the match tied 1-1, the Lady Mocs and the Phoenix battled in Game 3 for the match lead. Following an impressive 8-1 UTC run to begin the frame, Elon clawed back to within 10-5 before posting seven of the next eight points, including six in a row, to take a 12-11 advantage. The lead would change hands twice and there would be four ties before Elon managed an 18-17 lead.
At that point, the Lady Mocs took control of the pivotal game, posting eight of the next nine points to pull out to a 25-19 advantage. It was a run that the Phoenix would not recover from as UTC went on to close out the game, 30-25, and take a 2-1 match lead.
Game 4 was a hotly contested affair with Elon battling out to a 7-6 lead early on before mounting a 5-0 run to extend to a 12-6 advantage. A 13-5 run by the Lady Mocs, propelled them into the lead, 19-17 before the Phoenix knotted the score at 19-19. Following a point by UTC to make the score 20-19, Elon posted four straight points to retake the lead 23-20.
Facing the possibility of a fifth and final game, the Lady Mocs rallied back to within 24-22 and stayed within two points before scoring three straight with Elon leading 27-25 to go ahead 28-27. Following an error that tied the score at 28-28, Chattanooga put the game away with back-to-back points for the 30-28 victory and 3-1 match win.
Barrow and senior middle back Emily Lucci led the offensive attack for the Phoenix as they posted 16 and 13 kills, respectively, while senior setter Natalie Moore set up the offense with 44 assists. Defensively, junior libero Kelley Blakewood led the way as she posted 29 digs and was joined by Lucci with 14 digs and junior defensive specialist Shelley MacBean and freshman defensive specialist Lizzie West with 12 and 10 digs respectively. Freshman middle blocker Sara Schermerhorn rounded out the offensive attack with 11 kills.
For Chattanooga, Ball and Bass led the way with 15 kills apiece while Chastain finished with 49 assists and 16 digs in the first significant action of her college career. Junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) finished with a match-high 32 digs and is currently seven digs away from setting the Lady Mocs all-time digs mark in only 2 ? seasons.
Senior outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy, Ill.) added a strong performance with 23 digs, 10 kills and three service aces while freshman outside hitter Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) and senior outside hitter Kelsey Amundson (Houston, Texas) posted 18 and 14 digs respectively. Senior middle blocker Julianna Martinez (Austin, Texas) added 10 kills on the day.
The Lady Mocs return to action Tuesday with a non-conference contest when they host the Lipscomb Lady Bison at 7 p.m. at Maclellan Gym.
Furman 3, The Citadel 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? The Paladin volleyball team bounced back from yesterday’s loss to defeat The Citadel 3-0 in SoCon play Sunday.
The Paladins took the first game 30-23, led by senior Kerry Wooten’s 8 kills and by a team total of seven blocks.
With The Citadel leading most of game two, the Paladins tied the score at 20, then went on a 10-3 run to win the game 30-23, helped by senior Chibuzo Aguohca’s 8 kills and senior Courtney Stewardson’s four service aces.
After a 5-5 tie score early in the third game, the Paladins scored 25 points to the Bulldogs’ 7 to take the game 30-12, helped by a .424 team hitting percentage.
The Bulldogs were led by Rachel Sanders’ 8 kills and Blaine McAllister’s
11 digs.
Senior Stewardson ran the Paladin offense with 45 assists, and also contributed five service aces to the winning effort. Aguocha notched 16 kills, and middle blocker Wooten added 12 to lead the Paladins to victory.
Junior Pamela Gehrke led the defense with 11 digs.
With the win, the Paladins improve to 14-5 overall and 7-2 in the SoCon, while the Bulldogs fall to 4-20 and 0-9 in league play. The Paladins will take on the Eagles of Georgia Southern on Friday in Statesboro, Ga.