Davidson 3, Appalachian State 2
BOONE, N.C.-Freshman outside hitter Sarabeth Peele tallied a match-high 22 kills to lead the Davidson Wildcat volleyball team to an important 3-2 (25-30, 30-21, 30-27, 27-30, 15-12) Southern Conference win over the Appalachian State Mountaineers, who snapped an 11-match winning streak, on Friday night in Boone, N.C.
Three other Wildcats topped double figures for the 'Cats, who improve to
11-19 overall and 6-11 in the SoCon. Senior outside hitter Katie Pierucci added 14 kills, while junior middle blocker Kittery Neale had 13 and sophomore outside hitter Tierney Hodge had 10. Helping equally on the defensive end, Pierucci and Peele each notched double-double performances with 13 and 10 digs, respectively, while senior libero Lindsey Woeste recorded a match-high 31. Freshman setter Hayley Lawson had 58 assists on the 'Cats' 75 kills and also double-doubled with 13 digs. Senior Courtney Cron was the fifth Wildcat in double figures in digs with 11.
With their first loss since October 5, the Mountaineers drop to 17-13 overall and pick up just their fourth conference loss to fall to 13-4 in the league. Appalachian was led by Brittany Zahn, who tallied 20 kills, and also got 18 from Carla Durham and 16 from Dianna Thomas.
The Wildcats came out ready to play and got the match off to a good start with a strong showing in game one. Neither team, though, was able to pull ahead, and the score was knotted as late as 22-22, until Appalachian got a couple of timely kills from Zahn, who brought her season total up to an Appalachian-record 530, to pull away for the 30-25 win.
The second game got off to a similar start with the score tied at 18-all, but the 'Cats found some late-game magic and won 12 of the final 15 points for a commanding 30-21 win to even the match at a game each.
In the third game, the story was similar, with neither team able to gain any traction. Davidson took a slight 15-12 lead behind strong serving from Neale, but Thomas answered with a four-point serve for the Mountaineers to knot the game at 16. So it went, with every Wildcat run answered by the Apps, until with the score tied at 27-27, Pierucci rattled off three straight kills to lift the 'Cats to a 30-27 win and control of the match.
The fourth set went down to the wire yet again, but this time, the 'Cats were unable to put the Mountaineers away. With the score tied at 26, strong serving from Heather Kale and a pair of kills from Thomas combined to give the Mountaineers a 30-27 win and force the decisive game.
In the fifth and final frame, the Wildcats got down 2-0 early in the shortened game where every point counts. No matter, the 'Cats kept clawing and back-to-back kills from freshman Jorden Benedict and Hodge knotted the score at six. A Mountaineer attack error gave the 'Cat their first lead of the game, 7-6, and Davidson didn't look back, rolling to the 15-12 win for the match.
Furman 3, The Citadel 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. ? The Furman volleyball team reached its 20th win of the season with a 3-0 victory over The Citadel on Friday night. This is the first time since 2002 that the Furman Paladins have reached 20 wins in a season.
In game one, the Paladins took a commanding 10-2 lead and were able to keep the Bulldogs under 10 points as Furman took the first game 30-9.
Games two and three were much the same, with Furman winning 30-14 and 30-13, respectively.
The Paladins were able to hold the Bulldogs to a negative hitting percentage while recording a .386 mark themselves. Junior Rachel Sanders led the Bulldogs with 6 kills, while Ashley Winter led the defense with 5 digs.
Furman’s offense was evenly distributed, with juniors Alison West and Nicole Palazzo contributing 9 kills each, while senior Chibuzo Aguocha and sophomore Emily Harby each added 7. Senior Kerry Wooten recorded 6 kills and senior setter Courtney Stewardson notched 5 kills and no errors to lead the team with a .714 hitting percentage.
West led the defense with 13 digs and libero Brooke Ellison added 12.
Middle blocker Wooten led the net defense with 4 total blocks.
With the win, the Paladins improve to 20-7 on the season and 13-4 in the conference, while the Citadel falls to 5-28 and 0-17 in league play.
Furman will return to the court again tomorrow for its final regular season match of the year. The team will honor its three seniors ? Chibuzo Aguocha, Courtney Stewardson, and Kerry Wooten ? before taking on the College of Charleston in a final SoCon regular season showdown.
College of Charleston 3, Wofford 0
The College of Charleston volleyball team defeated Wofford 3-0 (30-26, 30-15, 30-23) in the first of two matches this weekend. Freshman Cole Dawley earned a double-double in the contest, leading the team in hitting with .348, converting 10 of her 23 attacks into kills, and in digs with 15. Senior Annie Uthe posted a match-high six blocks, including three solo blocks.
Charleston holds the top spot in the Southern Conference with a 15-2 record, and is 21-7 overall. Wofford drops to 9-21 overall and 2-15 in league play.
“We started a little flat in game one but really turned it up at the start of the second game," head coach Jason Kepner said. "Anytime you can go on the road and win 3-0, it is a good win. We now need to get focused for our last regular season conference match against a really good Furman team.
Wofford scored the first point in the match before Charleston answered with three points of its own to bring the score to 3-1. The teams traded back-to-back 4-0 runs that tied the game at eight. Wofford took the lead off a kill by Joanna Suddath. CofC scored three consecutive points to take control of the lead at 13-11. The score tied five times on the next nine possessions before a bad set by Suddath followed by a kill by Tiffany Blum gave Charleston the lead for the remainder of the game. The team scored seven of the final 10 points to take game one 30-26.
Charleston scored 15 of the first 21 points in the second game, which forced Wofford to call the first timeout of the game at the 15-6 mark. The Cougars followed the timeout with a 4-0 run before Wofford scored three consecutive points to bring the score to 16-12. Emily Sawin earned back-to-back kills which was followed by two consecutive Cougar blocks to give Charleston a 23-13 advantage. Wofford would score only two more points before a Dawley kill gave the College the win in game two.
Game three saw the teams trade points on each of the first 12 possessions before a kill by Deanna Patrick gave the Cougars an 8-6 lead. The Cougars scored on 10 of the next 16 possessions that gave the team a six-point advantage at the 18-12mark. Wofford went on a 6-0 run to narrow the Charleston lead to four at the 20-16 mark, before Charleston scored consecutive points to extend its lead to 21-16. CofC had two 4-0 runs that sandwiched a Terrier point that put the game out of reach for Wofford. The match-point, which sealed the Cougars 15th shutout of the season, was won off a Dawley kill.
Patrick earned nine kills in the win, with Sawin adding eight of her own. Four additional Cougars combined for 17 kills, for a team hitting percentage of .215. The match also saw five service aces from five different players. The defense was paced by four Cougars, Sawin (10), Dawley (15), Megan Parkerson (13) and Lindsey Kane (12), each of whom earned double-digit digs. Blum posted five blocks, including one solo block, while five players recorded at least one block.
The Terriers were held to a .066 team hitting percentage, the eighth time in 21 wins that the Cougars held their opponent to less than a .100 hitting percentage. Shanna Hughes and Liz Sheets notched nine kills each to lead the Terrier offense. Six Terriers combined for 17 additional kills. Sheets and Catelyn Amende posted three blocks each in the effort.
Charleston returns to action Saturday, November 10 at 2 p.m. against Furman for the final regular season match. Results and full coverage of the match will be available at www.CofCSports.com