Appalachian State 3, Wofford 0
BOONE, N.C. ? Brittany Zahn tallied 15 kills and a .464 hitting percentage, and the team hit a season best .386 as the Appalachian State volleyball team rolled past visiting Wofford, 3-0. Becca Norris and Carla Durham each added three blocks as the Apps won 30-20, 30-18, 30-22. The team is now 3-2 in Southern Conference play and 6-11 on the year.
Game one began closely, as the Terriers led by as many as three points. Behind strong serving and passing, the team took the lead with a 10-4 run, for a 17-14 advantage. From there, ASU extended its lead and finished with four straight points for the 30-20 win. Cassie Engelgau collected five of her 12 digs in the opening set, as Wofford was held to just 12 kills and a .139 hitting mark.
In the second game, Appalachian battled through several early ties before finally breaking out to a 16-10 lead. For the remainder of the game, Wofford only scored more than two consecutive points once, and the home team rolled to a 30-18 win on a Dianna Thomas ace. Thomas finished the match with10 kills, three assists, eight digs, and two of the team’s six blocks.
ASU dominated offensively in the third and final game, with just two attack errors in 30 attempts. The squad out-hit Wofford .467 to .083 in the set, with Jordan Jesberg leading the way. Jesberg collected six kills in the third game, and added a dig as well. Carla Durham added four of her nine kills in the third game.
Wofford did not record a block on the night, as the team fell to 0-5 in SoCon play, and 6-11 on the year. Anna Gustafson led the team with seven kills on the night.
Appalachian heads back out on the road with a pair of conference matches this weekend. The team will face Elon on Friday and UNC Greensboro on Saturday.
Chattanooga 1, East Tennessee State 3
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Freshman outside hitter Desiree Dyck drilled 26 kills and freshman setter Whitney Cogburn and senior outside hitter Marissa Mortensen combined for 63 assists to lead East Tennessee State (12-9, 2-1 A-Sun) to a 3-1 victory over Chattanooga (9-7, 4-0) Wednesday evening at Maclellan Gym in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Buccaneers took the match 30-20, 24-30, 32-30, 22-30 to snap UTC’s seven-match win streak.
ETSU jumped out to an early lead in Game 1, taking a 10-3 advantage before the Lady Mocs rallied to within 14-10 with a 7-4 run. The Buccaneers then extended their lead to 20-12 before Chattanooga once again narrowed the gap, this time to 23-18. That would be as close as they would get however, as East Tennessee State capped off the game with a 7-2 run, including the last four points, for a 30-20 victory.
Having taken the first game, ETSU came out strong in Game 2 looking to take a commanding lead, going ahead 11-5 and 14-7. Chattanooga then rallied to get to within 19-14 before posting a 9-1 run to pull ahead 23-20. After a pair of Buccaneer kills made the score 23-22, the Lady Mocs locked in their defense and closed out the game with a 30-24 victory to tie the match, 1-1.
In an ultra-competitive contest, the two teams battled through six ties and four lead changes at the beginning of Game 3, eventually reaching an 8-8 tie. At that point, Chattanooga put together a dominating 10-2 run to pull ahead 18-10. It would matter little as East Tennessee State responded with an 11-3 run to tie the score at 21-21 before taking a 23-21 lead. UTC would pull back ahead 28-25 before back-to-back kills by junior middle blocker Courtnie McKinney helped put the Buccaneers ahead 29-28.
The two teams then alternated points to make the score 30-30 before ETSU took the next two points, and the game, for a 32-30 victory to go up 2-1 in the match.
Chattanooga stayed close early in Game 4, tying the score at 8-8 before East Tennessee State posted a 5-1 run to go ahead 13-9. They would extend their lead to 19-13 before UTC rallied to within 21-18 behind three kills from senior middle blocker Sarah Bass (Baton Rouge, La.).
That would be as close as they would get as the Buccaneers put together a match-ending 9-4 run to take the game 30-22 and the match 3-1.
In addition to Dyck’s 26 kills, Cogburn and Mortensen posted 32 and 31 assists, respectively and senior libero Kaena Apana recorded a match-high 41 digs. McKinney and senior outside hitter Michelle Mislan added 14 and 13 kills, respectively while senior middle blocker Callie Kiselich registered a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Freshman middle blocker Lauren Baufield notched 16 digs and freshman defensive specialist Dani Howe added 10 digs.
For the Lady Mocs, Bass registered a team-high 16 kills while senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) added 12 kills and 10 digs. Senior setter Bethany Herndon (Richmond, Texas) finished with a team-high 36 assists and added 12 digs and junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led the team with 29 digs.
The Lady Mocs will take to the road as they resume their conference schedule this weekend, traveling to Furman on Saturday, October 6 for a noon contest and to Wofford for a 2 p.m. affair on Sunday, October 7.