UNCG 3, Western Carolina 1
GREENSBORO, NC ? The UNC Greensboro volleyball team closed out the regular season with a 3-1 win over Western Carolina in Fleming Gym on Sunday afternoon. UNCG picked up its 11th Southern Conference victory and recorded its best SoCon season since joining the league in 1997.
UNCG (18-14, 11-7 SoCon) had four players with double-digit kills and was led by junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Nortz who tallied 18 kills on the afternoon. Catherine Hanners had a good defensive showing and recorded a match-high 24 digs in the win. Lisa Fawell also dished out a match-high 68 assists.
Western Carolina (9-24, 4-14 SoCon) was led by Jelena Jakovljevic who had
16 kills. Teammate Meredith Harmon also contributed with 13 kills. The Catamounts had two players with double-digit digs with Liz Rondone leading the way with 21.
The first game was tight from the outset and although UNCG led the entire match, the Spartans couldn’t seem to pull away until late With the match tied at 23-23, UNCG went on a 3-1 run to pull ahead 26-24 but Western Carolina scored the next point out of a timeout to cut the lead to 26-25.
Timely kills from Branagan Fuller and Lauren Keiser down the stretch helped the Spartans seal the 30-27 win and the 1-0 match lead.
Western Carolina was able to tie the match in the second game. The teams again played a tight match and it was in the final minutes of the game when Western Carolina was able to steal the game. The score was tied at 27-27 and Western Carolina was able to score the next three points to take the game, 30-27.
UNCG came out of the intermission refreshed and ran out to an 18-5 lead and never looked back. The Spartans held Western Carolina to a -.161 hitting percentage in the third frame while tallying 18 kills on 33 attempts with only seven errors for a .333 hitting percentage for the game.
The Spartans again ran out to a big lead in the final frame, leading 16-10 before Western Carolina went on a 6-1 run to cut the UNCG lead to one. The game was close from that point but Western Carolina would get as close as
27-25 down the stretch but kills from Nortz and Kayren Finney gave UNCG the victory.
The Spartans will next be in action Nov. 16-18 when they head to the Southern Conference Tournament. UNCG, who will likely be the sixth seed, will wait to find out who they will face in opening round action.
Davidson 3, Georgia Southern 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- On senior day at Belk Arena, senior outside hitter Katie Pierucci tallied a team-high 24 kills and 20 digs to lead the 'Cats to a 3-1 (30-24, 30-26, 21-30, 30-27) win over the Georiga Southern Eagles in Southern Conference volleyball action on Sunday afternoon in the team's regular-season finale.
With its second straight win and sixth in the past nine matches, Davidson improves to 12-19 overall and 7-11 in the league. Georgia Southern falls to 10-20 overall, 7-11 in the SoCon. Davidson will earn the seventh seed in the 2007 Southern Conference volleyball tournament, by virtue of tie breakers with the Eagles, which gets underway in Chattanooga this Friday. Game time is still to be determined. The Wildcats will face the second-seeded Appalachian Mountaineers, whom they defeated 3-2 on Friday evening in Boone.
Pierucci hit a season-high .417 (24-4-48) in the match and turned in her 15th double-double of the season. Along with Pierucci, seniors Courtney Cron, Nicole Keroack and Lindsey Woeste appeared in their final match at Belk Arena and were honored in pregame festivities. Defensively, Woeste had 19 digs and a pair of assists in the match, while Cron added 16 digs and a pair of assists and aces. Keroack had four kills, including a momentum-shifting putaway in the fourth game, an ace, three digs and three blocks in her final home match.
Junior middle blocker Kittery Neale added 16 kills to the offensive effort and hit .303 in the match, while freshman outside hitter Sarabeth Peele had 12 kills. Freshman setter Hayley Lawson had 51 assists to go along with eight kills, six blocks and a .500 clip. Fellow classmate Jorden Benedict made a team-high six blocks.
The Eagles were led by Bianca Julio, who had 25 kills on 58 swings for a .345 hitting percentage and a team-high 16 digs. Michelle Uzoh (14) and Laura Beth Lancaster (10) also touched double figures for Georgia Southern, who also got a match-high 57 assists and 10 digs from setter Jessica Bradford.
Strong serving from Keroack and kills from Peele, Lawson and Neale helped the 'Cats to a 4-1 lead to begin the match. Three straight points from Benedict, Neale and Pierucci pushed that lead to 11-7, but the Eagles answered, and back-to-back Wildcat errors put Georgia Southern on top, 13-12. Two straight putaways from Neale, who had seven in the game while hitting .500, reclaimed the lead for Davidson for good, and a couple of kills from Peale secured the 30-24 win for the 'Cats.
Georgia Southern jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead in the second game, but three straight aces by Pierucci and a kill from Keroack helped Davidson open a 10-7 lead. The Eagles rallied, and Julio knotted the score at 13. The teams traded points from that point, and the score was tied as late as 23-23 when the 'Cats began to pull away. A Pierucci putaway paired with a couple of Eagle hitting errors gave Davidson a 27-24 edge and forced Georgia Southern into a timeout. Pierucci, who had eight kills and hit .429 in the game, had a pair of kills to give the 'Cats a match point, and an Eagle error delivered the 30-26 win for a 2-0 lead in the match.
Despite being down two games, the Eagles out hit the 'Cats .385 to .125 and controlled the third game from the start. Georgia Southern opened up an 11-5 lead with Bailey Coleman serving five straight points, and Davidson was unable to overcome the deficit, dropping a 30-21 decision.
Both teams layed it on the line in the fourth game, which had nine ties and six lead changes, but it was the Wildcats who played better down the stretch. With the game knotted at 21, Peele put together a 4-0 run, including kills from Pierucci and Benedict, to give the 'Cats a 24-21 lead and put Davidson up for good. The Eagles rallied and got within one, 24-23, and again at 26-25, but a kill from Keroack forced Georgia Southern into a timeout. After the pause, Lawson extended Davidson's lead, 28-25, and evenutally, punched home the match-winner for the 30-27 win.
Davidson has earned the seventh seed in the 2007 Southern Conference Volleyball tournament, hosted by Chattanooga, which opens at 10 a.m. on Friday. For complete tournament information, visit www.socosports.com.
Chattanooga 3, Elon 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Senior middle blocker Julianna Martinez (Austin, Texas) and sophomore outside hitter Ashley Yeager (Parker, Colo.) combined for 31 kills and freshman setter Bailee Chastain (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) posted a team-high 42 assists as Chattanooga, (18-13, 13-5) defeated Elon (17-15, 11-7) in a Southern Conference volleyball match Sunday afternoon in Elon, N.C. The Lady Mocs defeated the Phoenix 22-30, 30-16, 27-30, 30-28 and 16-14 to collect their 13th conference victory and claim the fourth seed for the Southern Conference Tournament.
After battling through four games, Chattanooga opened the decisive fifth game with a 7-2 run before Elon made a game of it with an impressive 7-1 run to take the lead 9-8. After trading points and battling through four ties over the next several plays, the Phoenix tied the game and then took the lead, 14-13, with back-to-back kills. Elon then followed that with consecutive errors to bring the Lady Mocs to game point and Julianna Martinez made sure that Chattanooga capped off the regular season with a win, drilling her 16th kill for the 16-14 victory.
It didn’t start out as an ultra competitive match, however, as the Phoenix took Game 1 30-22 behind the strength of a 16-4 run that included eight straight points in the heart of the frame.
The Lady Mocs turned the table in Game 2, completely taking over the set with Elon leading 14-13. At that point Chattanooga rolled up 12 straight points as they used a 17-2 run to close out the 30-16 victory.
Games 3 and 4 were anything but blowouts as each team came away with narrow victories to send it to a fifth game. Elon regained control of the match in the third game, jumping out to an 11-6 lead before UTC rallied to within 16-14. The Phoenix then used a 7-1 run to extend to a 23-15 lead and withstood an 11-6 run by the Lady Mocs before closing out the game 30-27 and taking a 2-1 match lead.
After battling through six ties early on in Game 4 that left the score at 9-9, Chattanooga used an 8-3 run to take a 17-13 lead before Elon’s 6-2 run tied the score at 19-19. Trailing 22-21, the Lady Mocs regained the lead, 28-24, with a key 7-2 run of their own before four straight points by the Phoenix once again tied the score, this time at 28-28. Back-to-back points by Chattanooga then put the game away, 30-28, and set up UTC’s fifth game heroics.
Elon was led offensively by junior outside hitter Jessica Barrow and senior setter Natalie Moore with game-highs of 20 kills and 48 assists, respectively, and also received double-digit kill performances from freshman outside hitter Lauren Copenhagen, senior outside hitter Brittany Westphal and freshman middle blocker Sara Schermerhorn. Defensively, junior libero Kelley Blakewood led with a game-high 32 digs and was joined by senior middle back Emily Lucci and junior defensive specialist Shelley MacBean with 14 and 11 digs respectively.
Martinez led the offensive attack for the Lady Mocs with 16 kills and a .481 hitting percentage while Yeager added 15 kills and 16 digs. Junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led the defense with 29 digs and was joined by senior outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy, Ill.) with 16 digs. Chastain added 10 digs to go along with her 42 assists while senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) finished with 12 kills and eight digs.
The Lady Mocs will head into the 2007 Southern Conference Tournament at Chattanooga as the fourth seed following today’s 3-2 victory. The tournament will begin on Friday, November 16 with four first round games and will proceed to the semi-finals on Saturday, November 17 with games at 2:00 and 4:30 p.m. The Southern Conference Championship game will be Sunday, November 18 at 2 p.m. All matches will be held at Chattanooga’s Maclellan Gym.
UTC will play the 7:30 match on Friday against the fifth seed.