UNCG 3, The Citadel 0
GREENSBORO, NC ? The UNCG Greensboro volleyball team picked up its second consecutive sweep with a 3-0 win over The Citadel in SoCon volleyball action on Friday night in Fleming Gym. UNCG won by scores of 30-26, 30-20, and 30-16.
UNCG (14-11, 7-4 SoCon) had three players with double-digit digs and was led by senior Katherine Hart who tallied 15 kills in the victory. Branagan Fuller and Alissa Beaudway tallied 10 kills each. Emily Lindborg also recorded a career-high hitting percentage. The Nile, MI native had eight kills on 10 attempts with no errors for an impressive .800 percentage.
Jessica Maas led The Citadel (5-21, 0-10 SoCon) with 11 kills and seven digs. Blaine McAllister also added five kills while teammates Emily Hill and Rachel Sanders each recorded five digs.
The Spartans found themselves down, 9-5 early in the first game but went on a 10-1 run midway through the match to take a 14-10 lead and never looked back. The Bulldogs battled and were able to get as close as two points down the stretch but UNCG used a kill from Lindborg, a service ace from Lisa Fawell and a kill from Fuller to take game one, 30-26.
The Citadel opened game two with a 4-1 run and had an 8-4 lead before UNCG went on a 10-0 run to take a 14-8 lead and never trailed the rest of the game. Kayren Finney tallied four kills down the stretch and the Spartans went up 2-0 in the match with a 30-20 victory.
UNCG led from start to finish in the final frame and despite several kills from The Citadel’s Tatum Jestila and Maas down the stretch, the Spartans took the sweep with a 30-16 win. The Spartans posted a .378 attack percentage in the third game and held the Bulldogs to a -.028. The Spartans out-hit the Bulldogs .467 to .144 for the match.
The Spartans are next in action Saturday when they welcome league-leader, College of Charleston to Fleming Gym. First serve is set for 2 pm.
Appalachian State 3, Western Carolina 0
BOONE, N.C. - Brittany Zahn posted a double-double with 19 kills and 13 digs as the Appalachian State volleyball team hit .308 on Friday night in a 3-0 win against Western Carolina, 30-19, 30-27, and 30-14. The Apps are now 7-3 in the Southern Conference and have won five consecutive matches.
Appalachian (11-12) trailed early on in the opening game, but ran off five straight points with the help of a Dianna Thomas ace to take a 13-9 lead. Thomas would finish the match with eight kills, ten digs, and two blocks. The block leader for the evening was Caroline Sedon, with five of the teams eight total. Sedon also produced five of the squad’s 51 kills, and added a pair of digs in the winning effort. Six straight points ended the first game, as Lorelle Rau kept the Catamounts off balance with strong serving. Rau accounted for two of the team’s three aces, and led the way setting with 38 assists.
Game two was much closer, as Western Carolina (7-19, 2-9) took advantage of five blocks, two aces, and nine attack errors by the home team. Facing it’s largest deficit of the match at 18-12, WCU rallied to within a point on several occasions. ASU pulled away in the end, as Carla Durham recorded the final kill of the game. The reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week ended the night with seven kills and three blocks.
The third game belonged to the surging Mountaineers, who scored 15 of the final 17 points en route to the sweep. Libero Heather Kale tied Zahn for the team lead with 13 digs on the evening, while Lauren Swecker converted eight kills, a block, and six digs.
The Mountaineers are back in action on Saturday, as the second place Chattanooga Lady Mocs (13-9, 8-1) visit the Holmes Center at 7:30 p.m.
College of Charleston 3, Elon 2
ELON, N.C. - The Phoenix volleyball team won games one and four of Friday night's match versus College of Charleston to force a fifth and deciding game, but eventually fell 3-2 (27-30, 30-28, 30-26, 21-30, 15-12) to the Cougars in Alumni Gym. CofC improves to 16-6 (10-1 SoCon), while Elon drops to 13-12 (7-4 SoCon) on the season.
Senior Britany Westphal commanded the Phoenix offense, tallying a career-high 29 kills and hitting .393 in the five-game set. Classmate Emily Lucci posted her ninth double-double of the season, logging 14 kills and 17 digs, while junior Jessica Barrow also recorded a double-double with 16 kills and 10 digs. Freshmen Lauren Copenhagen and Sarah Schermerhorn each tallied seven block assists, marking a season-high for Copenhagen who also had a solo block on the night.
The Phoenix jumped out to an early 6-1 lead on the Cougars in game one and maintained at least a two-point advantage through the entire stanza. Westphal tallied 10 kills to lead Elon, as the Phoenix took an early 1-0 match-advantage over College of Charleston.
CofC rebounded in games two and three, forcing crucial errors by the Phoenix and holding Elon to a .051 and .064 team hitting percentages in each frame. Elon's defense tallied with six blocks over the two games, but the Phoenix offense was shut down by the Cougars.
Elon rallied in game four, dominating CofC on both sides of the ball with four blocks, 17 kills and a .405 hitting percentage. Barrow posted six kills and hit .500 to lead the Phoenix, as Elon forced game five.
The Cougars were overpowering in the deciding game, as Tiffany Blum posted four kills (.600) and a block assist to lead CofC to a 3-2 win.
Deanna Patrick tallied 22 kills for College of Charleston, while Bum added 15. The Cougars logged 10 team blocks to Elon's 14.
Senior Natalie Moore dished out 56 assists for the Phoenix, while juniors Kelley Blakewood and Shelley MacBean added 15 and 10 digs, respectively.
Elon will return to action Saturday afternoon, taking on The Citadel in a 2 p.m. match in Alumni Gym.
Furman 3, Georgia Southern 0
STATESBORO, Ga. --- Furman totaled 13 blocks and held Georgia Southern to a .096 hitting percentage to sweep the Eagles 3-0 (30-28, 30-15, 30-22) in volleyball action Friday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Paladins improve to 15-5 overall and 8-2 in the Southern Conference. The Eagles drop to 7-16 and 4-7.
“Tonight was a great match,” said GSU head coach Nicole McCray. “Even though we lost, we fought hard and didn’t give them anything without them working for it.”
The two teams traded momentum swings in the first game. GSU jumped out to a 7-2 lead but a 13-2 run put Furman on top 15-9.
Down 21-14, the Eagles rallied to tie it up at 26-26, but errors gave the Paladins three of their next four points, including a service error on game point.
Furman recorded five blocks in game two and held GSU to a -.114 attack percentage to roll 30-15 and go up 2-0.
The Paladin offense posted a .419 hitting percentage in game three with 22 kills and just four errors, led by Chibuzo Aguocha eight kills and .889 percentage.
“They served really well,” added McCray. “And because they served so well, they were able to get us out of our system. They’re a great blocking team and that is a result of their great serving.”
Aguocha led all players with 16 kills and a .536 hitting percentage. Kerry Wooten paced the defense with seven blocks.
For the Eagles, senior Gorana Bacic (Richmond, Va.) had nine kills while junior Christy Dowd (Indianapolis, Ind.) totaled eight. Freshman Marissa Odom (Gainesville, Fla.) led a contingent of four players in double-figure digs with 14.
Georgia Southern returns to the court Sunday when it hosts Wofford at 2 p.m.