Georgia Southern 3, The Citadel 1

CHARLESTON, S.C. --- Georgia Southern junior Christy Dowd (Indianapolis, Ind.) recorded a season-high 19 kills as the Eagles rebounded from a shaky start to defeat The Citadel 3-1 (27-30, 30-22, 30-19, 30-17) Sunday afternoon at McAlister Field House.

The victory improves GSU’s record to 6-14 overall and 3-5 in the Southern Conference. The Bulldogs drop to 3-17 and 0-7.

“To play College of Charleston as good as we did and get a tough win here at The Citadel is a great weekend for us,” said GSU head coach Nicole McCray. “The Citadel came out and played hard and dug up everything we hit. For our hitters to not get frustrated and stay patient, means that we are learning and getting better.”

Georgia Southern used a 7-0 run in game one to take an 18-10 lead, but The Citadel responded with a 15-4 rally of their own to go on top 25-22, and took the first frame 30-27.

“We didn’t pass and serve as well as they did in the first game,” added McCray. “They frustrated us and we made more errors than we should have. But once we cleaned up our passing and serving and took some shots, that opened things up for us.”

Game two was a tight affair with GSU holding a 21-20 lead. A Bulldog service error kickstarted a 9-2 game-ending Georgia Southern run to even the match at 1-1.

Games three and four were never in doubt as the Eagles cruised to the win.

Dowd’s 19 kills and .390 hitting percentage were also match-high totals. She added 12 digs and had three aces.

“This is by far Christy’s best match,” said McCray. “She passed well, she hit well and hopefully this will help her confidence and help her to stay aggressive through this upcoming weekend.”

Senior Gorana Bacic (Richmond, Va.) recorded 14 kills, the third match in a row she has recorded double-digit kills and her fourth in her last five outings. Senior Bailey Coleman (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) paced the defense with 32 digs and junior Mae Chabra (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) tallied 53 assists and 15 digs.

Rachel Sanders led the Bulldogs with 13 kills, 19 digs and five blocks.

The Eagles return home for a four-match homestand, starting Friday against Appalachian State. Start time is set for 7 p.m.

UNGC 3, Davidson 0

GREENSBORO, NC? The UNCG Greensboro volleyball team ended a two-game skid with a 3-0 win over Davidson in Southern Conference volleyball action Sunday afternoon in Fleming Gym.

Kaitlyn Nortz led UNCG (12-10, 5-3 SoCon) tallying 15 kills and hitting

.448 over the three games. Sophomore Emily Lindborg tallied 10 kills and hit .471 for the match, her third best hitting percentage this season.

Nortz also tied her career-high with nine blocks.

Sarabeth Peele led the way for Davidson (6-14, 1-6 SoCon) with 10 kills while Lindsay Woeste recorded a team-high nine digs. Setter Hayley Lawson dished out 21 assists in the loss.

Nortz logged six kills in the first frame to lead UNCG to a 30-17 win. The game was close through the first several points and was tied at 10-10 but UNCG went on an 8-0 run to pull ahead 18-10 and never looked back, taking a 1-0 match lead.

Davidson logged their best game of the match in the second frame and managed to keep the score close throughout and was never more than a few points off the lead. The Wildcats had back-to-back kills from Lawson and Peele to take a 24-23 lead, but a 7-1 UNCG run to close out the game put the Spartans ahead 2-0.

Despite multiple kills from Davidson’s Kittery Neale and Katie Pierucci in game three, the Spartans defeated the Wildcats 3-0 with a 30-16 win. UNCG dominated the Wildcats in every statistical category and managed to hold Davidson to a -.019 hitting percentage for the match. UNCG recorded 10 team blocks and hit .231 for the match. The Spartans also recorded a match-high nine service aces.

The Spartans are next in action October 13-14 when they head to Chattanooga, TN and Cullowhee, NC for SoCon matches with Chattanooga and Western Carolina.

Chattanooga 3, Wofford 2

SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? Senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) drilled a match-high 17 kills and senior setter Bethany Herndon (Richmond, Texas) recorded a team-high 44 assists to lead Chattanooga (10-8, 5-1) to a 3-2 victory over Wofford (7-12, 1-6) Sunday afternoon at Benjamin Johnson Arena in Spartanburg, S.C. The Lady Mocs defeated the Terriers 30-21, 22-30, 30-32, 30-19 and 16-14 to improve to 5-1 in the Southern Conference.

Chattanooga came out strong to open the match, taking leads of 11-5 and 22-11 before going on to a 30-21 victory. After falling behind 0-1, the Terriers rallied to take an early 13-8 lead in Game 2 and quickly extended that to a 26-17 advantage. After a brief rally by the Lady Mocs to close to 28-22, Wofford wrapped up the game with a 30-22 victory to tie the match at 1-1.

Game 3 was a tightly contested affair right from the beginning as neither team was able to claim victory in regulation. The Lady Mocs saw the score go past 30 points for the second time this weekend as the Terriers were able to claim the 32-30 victory to take a 2-1 match lead.

With no margin of error, Chattanooga took no chances in the fourth game, pulling ahead 10-5 and 20-13. Following a brief Wofford rally to make the score 21-16, the Lady Mocs posted a 9-3 run to close out the game with a 30-19 victory and force a fifth and final game.

In that decisive fifth game, Chattanooga’s second in two days, the Lady Mocs weathered a 4-1 Wofford lead before rebounding to close to within 10-9. UTC then went on a 7-4 run to close out the game 16-14 and the match 3-2.

Sophomore setter Joanna Sudath led the offensive attack for the Terriers with a match-high 52 assists to go along 17 digs and sophomore outside hitter Brittany Thompson paced the defense with 32 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Palmer added 19 digs on defense while sophomore middle blocker Lindsey Richardson and junior middle blocker Liz Sheets finished with 14 and 13 kills respectively.

In addition to her match-high 17 kills, Ball added 10 digs while Herndon tacked on 18 digs to go along with her 44 assists. Junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) posted a match-high 35 digs while freshman outside hitter Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) totaled 19 digs on the afternoon. Senior outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy, Ill.) finished with nine kills and 13 digs.