Furman 3, Western Carolina 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. ? Hitting a combined .414, the Furman Paladins defeated the Catamounts of Western Carolina 3-0 in Alley gym tonight.
Furman started off slow in game one, allowing the Catamounts to hit .194 as a team, but made up for it with 17 team digs and a .333 hitting percentage, winning by a score of 30-23. Junior Alison West led the Paladins to a game one win, contributing 4 service aces and 10 digs.
In game two, Furman dominated from the beginning, going on a 15-5 run to start the game, and winning by a score of 30-17, helped by senior Chibuzo Aguocha’s six kills and .750 hitting percentage.
Game three was even better for the Paladins, as they went on a 21-6 run to begin the game, helped by sophomore setter Kelsey Salava’s two aces upon entering the game. The Paladins hit .400 as a team in game three, and held the Catamounts to only 4 kills and a -.217 team hitting percentage. The Paladins took game three by a score of 30-12.
Western Carolina was led by Meredith Harmon’s 9 kills, and libero Liz Rondone’s 7 digs.
Furman was led by West’s 13 kills and 14 digs, her tenth double-double of the season. Senior Aguocha contributed 14 kills, and senior Kerry Wooten added 8 kills and a .500 attack percentage. The Paladins totaled 13 service aces as a team, and 37 defensive digs.
With the win, the Paladins improve to 12-4 on the season and 5-1 in the conference, while the Catamounts fall to 7-14 and 2-4 in the conference.
The Paladins take the court again tomorrow as they face Chattanooga at noon.
College of Charleston 3, Georgia Southern 1
Charleston, S.C.- College of Charleston’s career blocks leader Tiffany Blum recorded her 500th career block in Friday’s 3-1 (30-22, 30-14, 27-30, 30-25) win over SoCon foe Georgia Southern. With the win, CofC improves to 11-5 overall and is a sterling 6-0 in league play while Georgia Southern falls to 5-14 and 2-5 in the Southern Conference.
“It’s nice to be back at home in front of a big crowd. The team played really well in games one and two really controlling all aspects of the game,” Head Coach Jason Kepner said. “After the break we came out a little flat and had a hard time getting going in game three. We came out better in the fourth game but let Georgia Southern stick around with errors from our own side. We finished strong in the fourth game and it feels good to be 6-0 in conference play.
Game one saw four Cougars with four kills and senior Annie Uthe adding five to the total. The teams trading points for ____ consecutive points after Georgia Southern took a 2-0 lead. The Cougars took a 14-11 lead after a block by Emily Sawin and Annie Uthe. The lead extended to 17-12 after a kill by Tiffany Blum. After a time out, the Eagles narrowed the lead to 20-18. Charleston held onto the lead until Blum scored the game point.
Deanna Patrick and Sawin led the Cougars with four kills each in game two. Charleston took a 14-8 lead after Uthe, Patrick, and Lindsey Kane combined for two consecutive assisted blocks. The plays forced Georgia Southern to take a time out. The Cougars followed the time out by scoring three consecutive points, extending their lead to 19-8. Kane recorded an assisted block and a solo block before two Megan Parkerson service aces clinched game two 30-14.
Georgia Southern took game three 30-27 after a 4-0 to end the game. Charleston scored four points before a service ace by Georgia Southern’s Lindsay O’Connor tied the game at 6. The Eagles held onto the lead until an attack error by Gorana Bacic tied the game at 12. The game remained within one point until Uthe tallied a kill for a 23-21 Charleston lead. The kill forced Georgia Southern to call a timeout. The Eagles scored the next four points, retaking the lead, 25-23. A Uthe kill tied the game at 26 before Georgia Southern scored on the next four plays, forcing the match into a fourth game.
The Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Charleston scored five points giving them a 5-3 lead. GSU scored twice to narrow the lead to 13-11. Charleston answered with four points to give the team a 17-12 advantage. GSU battled their way back to within one before Patrick scored two consecutive points for Charleston, giving them a 25-22 lead. Charleston scored four of the next six points before a kill by Russell caused Georgia Southern to call a timeout at the 29-24 mark. Charleston scored the match point off of an attack error by Gorana Bacic.
The Cougars had three players in Patrick (15), Uthe (16), and Russell (13) with double digit kills. Blum, Sawin and Kane combined for 19 additional kills. Megan Parkerson earned five service aces in the match, while Blum and Kane earned two a piece. Defensively for the Cougars, Kane led the team in blocks with two solo blocks and five assisted blocks. Uthe had six assisted blocks while Blum added one solo block and four assisted blocks. Three other players tallied blocks in the win.
Gorana Bacic led the Eagles offense with 13 kills with Michelle Uzoh adding eight kills in the effort. Uzoh also led the team in blocks with one solo and four assisted blocks. Four other Eagles notched at least one block.
The team will host their annual alumni match Saturday, October 6 at 2 p.m. before returning to conference action Tuesday, October 9 when they travel to Chattanooga for a 7 p.m. match.
Elon 3, Appalachian State 2
ELON, N.C. - In a thrilling, five-game match, the Elon Phoenix volleyball squad defeated Appalachian State 3-2 (30-22, 24-30, 29-31, 30-23, 15-11). The Phoenix improves to 10-10 overall (5-2 Southern Conference) while the Mountaineers fall to 6-12 (3-3 SoCon).
Mandy Wilson led the Phoenix, tallying 19 kills and a .395 hitting percentage. She was followed by Emily Lucci who finished the match with 16 kills (.393) and a team-leading 21 digs and four blocks.
The Phoenix took game one 30-22, thanks in part to Wilson's six kills, but dropped the second game 24-30 with a game-low .205 hitting percentage. Game three, though much closer at 29-31 also went to Appalachian State, but the Phoenix rallied in game four to win 30-23 and force a fifth game. Game five was all Elon as the Phoenix captured the match with a 15-11 victory.
Brittany Zahn led Appalachian State with 34 kills (.443), including a game-high 11 in the third stanza.
The Phoenix posted eight team blocks and hit .301 as a squad. Natalie Moore logged 59 assists, while Kelley Blakewood had 13 digs. Freshmen Sarah Schermerhorn and Lauren Copenhagen also reached double-digit kills for Elon, tallying 10 and 13 respectively. Schermerhorn added three blocks.
Elon will host Davidson Saturday at 4 p.m., while Appalachian State travels to UNC Greensboro.