UNC Greensboro 3, Winston-Salem 0
GREENSBORO, NC? The UNC Greensboro volleyball team snapped its two-game losing streak with a 3-0 sweep of Winston-Salem State in non-conference volleyball action on Tuesday night at Fleming Gymnasium. The Spartans won by scores of 30-8, 30-10 and 30-15 to pick up their sixth win of the season.
Freshman Alissa Beaudway led UNCG (6-7) with a career-high 15 kills while classmate Kayren Finney tallied seven kills in the win. Elizabeth Flattery also tallied a career-high five digs while Kimiko Naito and Lisa Fawell led the way with 20 and 19 assists, respectively. Naito’s 20 assists is also a career-high. The Spartans recorded a .429 hitting percentage and tallied 12 aces in the victory.
Annika Barnwell led Winston-Salem State with four kills and eight digs in the loss. Lore McBroom tallied a team-high six assists. The Lady Rams tallied four aces, including two from Jasmine Watkins.
The teams played close for the first few points of game one but a 12-1 run put the Spartans ahead, 16-4 midway through the first game. The Lady Rams wouldn’t get any closer and kills from Katherine Hart, Emily Lindborg and Beaudway down the stretch gave UNCG the 30-8 victory.
In game two, the match was tighter from the outset and the Lady Rams were able to take an early 6-5 lead on a kill from Valentina Pushkina but UNCG regrouped and used kills from Beaudway and Kaitlyn Nortz and a service ace to regain the lead. The Spartans wouldn’t look back and took the game by a score of 30-10.
In the third game the Spartans found themselves down early after seeing the several lead changes in the opening minutes. It wasn’t until a kill from Beaudway at the 11-6 mark that the Spartans began to take control. UNCG closed the game on a 10-5 run and took the match with a 30-15 win.
UNCG opens conference action Saturday when they head to Statesboro, GA to take on Georgia Southern in the SoCon opener for both teams. First serve is scheduled for 2 pm. The Spartans return to Fleming Gymnasium on September 28 when they take on Wofford. Game time is set for 7 pm.
Wofford 0, Georgia 3
ATHENS, Ga. ? Wofford volleyball was handed a defeat on the road against Georgia. The Bulldogs dominated the match at Ramsey Center in Athens, Ga., scoring a 30-18, 30-16, 30-16 victory.
Georgia (9-1) junior Britta Buethe and freshman Maria Taylor paced the Bulldog offense with significant contributions. Buethe led the match with a .684 hitting percentage from 14 kills, one error and 19 total attacks. Taylor followed close behind with 12 kills, one error and 18 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .611. Junior Mara Martin collected a match high 34 assists out of the Bulldogs’ 39 total assists. On the defensive end, freshman Erika Clark completed the night with 9 digs.
Wofford (3-6) sophomore Shanna Hughes led the team with a .429 hitting percentage, while classmate Brittany Thompson led the Terriers with 22 total attacks and 7 digs. Sophomore Joanna Suddath gathered a team best 18 assists.
Wofford heads back on the road Friday and Saturday to Orangeburg, S.C. for the 2007 Spikefest Tournament hosted by South Carolina State University. During the tournament’s first day the Terriers begin play against Savannah State at 2:30 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. matchup against the host Lady Bulldogs. Second day competition for Wofford includes matchups against Hampton and USC Upstate.
Western Carolina 1, Gardner-Webb 3
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Senior middle blocker Meredith Harmon recorded a season-high 17 kills in Western Carolina volleyball’s (3-8) 3-1 (19-30, 30-26, 25-30, 25-30) loss to Gardner-Webb (7-5) in the Catamounts opening home-match of the season Tuesday in the Ramsey Center.
Harmon had a strong outing to begin her senior campaign at home. She not only had 17 kills on 33 attacks but had just two errors for a .455 attack percentage. Harmon also had a solo block and four block assists.
“Meredith did all she could, she really put the team on her shoulders,” said Head Coach Stephanie Dragan. “She had a slow start in the match but really stepped it up when the team needed her to.”
The Catamounts struggled early producing a .028 hitting percentage in game one. Western Carolina was also stymied when freshman outside hitter Jelena Jakovjevic went out in game one with an injury.
“Jelena getting hurt in game one really put a kink in our offense,” Dragan said. “LaTonia [Cunningham], Jessica [Whitley] and Amanda [Kerr] did a good job in being flexible in the positions we put them in during the match.”
Western Carolina battled back to tie the game at one, getting a win in game two. The Catamounts produced their best hitting percentage of the match with a .292 and looked to have momentum going into the locker room.
The Catamounts built a 12-10 lead in game three after getting a big kill by Whitley but a Gardner-Webb kill and a pair of Western Carolina attack errors gave the Bulldogs the lead and they never relinquished it.
Gardner-Webb scored four consecutive points to start game four and the early lead by the Bulldogs was something Western Carolina could never recover from. The Catamounts hit just .056 in game four and had 10 attack errors.
“We just seemed to lose focus in games three and four,” Dragan said. “That was our youth showing and our freshmen playing like freshmen.”
Sophomore setter Katie Hennessey tied her season high with 39 assists and also led the Catamounts with four service aces. Libero Liz Rondone also had a season-high with 24 digs.
Western Carolina returns to action on Friday when the club hosts the sixth annual Catamount Clash. The team will begin play 2:30 p.m. with a match-up with UNC Wilmington before facing Southern Conference foe The Citadel at 7 p.m.
Davidson 0, Charlotte 3
CHARLOTTE, N.C. ? The Davidson Wildcat volleyball team fell 3-0 (30-18, 30-25, 30-21) to cross-county rival Charlotte in midweek action on Tuesday night at Dale F. Halton Arena.
With the loss, the 'Cats fall to 5-4 while Charlotte improves to 8-2.
Alma Arroyo paced the 49ers with 16 kills on 34 attempts for a .353 hitting percentage, while Jennifer Webb chipped in 10 kills for Charlotte.
With the start of Southern Conference play quickly approcahing, head coach Tim Cowie made some adjustments to the Wildcat lineup, hoping to shake things up on the court.
"I was pleased with the effort put forth tonight," Cowie said. "We called on a lot of people who haven't had a wealth of full-match experience. Overall, I was pleased with the effort, but disappointed with the result."
Senior Lindsey Woeste turned in the 'Cats most solid performance of the night, tallying 18 digs for the Wildcat defensive effort. Junior Tierney Hodge led the attack with seven kills, while freshman Jorden Benedict added five, and fellow classmate setter Hayley Lawson had 21 assists.
Charlotte jumped out to an early 8-2 lead in game one, but the 'Cats kept clawing. A kill from junior Brittany Narr put Davidson within one at 12-11, but they would get no closer. Arroyo posted five kills in the game to lead the 49ers to a 30-18 win.
The 49ers took an 8-4 lead to start game two, but Davidson ran off three straight points to get within one. After knotting the score at 11, a block by juniors Lindsay Paroczai and Narr gave the 'Cats the advantage. Lawson aced the next possession to push the lead to 13-11, and Davidson would stay on top until Webb served up an ace to even the score at 15. Charlotte won the next three points and held the lead the rest of the way for the 30-24 win.
After the break, Charlotte won the first three points to open game three, but the 'Cats answered with three of their own. Arroyo gave Charlotte the lead and a six-point run by the 49ers opened up a 17-10 gap that would prove too much to overcome. Stringing together a couple of three-point runs, the Niners captured a 30-21 win for the match.
Davidson returns to action this weekend as they travel to Tucson, Ariz,. for the University of Arizona's Nike Classic. The 'Cats will take on UC Irvine on Friday at 3:30 p.m. (EST) and Cal State Bakersfield (3 p.m.) and host Arizona (8 p.m.) the following day.
Georgia Southern 2, Charleston Southern 3
CHARLESTON, S.C. --- The Charleston Southern volleyball team placed five players in double-figure kills to edge Georgia Southern 3-2 (30-26, 30-32, 30-28, 23-30, 15-13) Tuesday evening.
The Lady Bucs improve to 6-4 while the Eagles drop to 3-9. GSU opens SoCon play Saturday at home against UNC Greensboro. “Tonight was a very, very tough loss,” said GSU head coach Nicole McCray. “The girls worked so hard and fought really, really hard all five games. It’s very difficult in rally scoring to start off 6-0 in the fifth game. We should have never started off that way.”
CSU took advantage of three straight GSU errors for that big advantage in the final game but Georgia Southern battled back to pull within one, 9-8. The teams alternated the next 11 points with Charleston Southern finally pulling out the win on a kill by Renae Popovich.
Charleston Southern held a decided .412-.222 hitting percentage in the final game, but was outhit .267-.223 for the match.
The Lady Bucs took games one and three but the Eagles rallied in each time to eventually force a deciding game five. “The team’s resiliency was huge,” added McCray. “Being on the road and fighting back in front of a hostile crowd, that says a lot about our team. It’s tough, but it will all help us in the long run. Our girls continue to stay positive and realize that when we do pass, we are a great team.”
Junior Bianca Julio (Curitiba, Brazil) and freshman Sarah Gildersleeve (Naples, Fla.) led the GSU offense with 15 kills each. Senior Gorana Bacic (Richmond, Va.) and freshman Michelle Uzoh tallied 14 kills apiece. Junior Mae Chabra (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) had 66 assists and Julio posted a team-high 14 digs. Nichole Diller recorded a match-high 18 kills for Charleston Southern and Popovich posted 23 digs.
After Georgia Southern scored the first three points of the match, the two teams were not separated by more than two points until a 4-0 Charleston Southern run broke a 23-23 tie.
CSU was not able to capitalize on the momentum from the end of game one as they dropped the first seven points of the second frame. But the Lady Bucs crept back into the game, thanks to strong service runs from Christina Lysacek and Popovich, and used a 13-2 run to take a 19-16 lead. Poor serve reception hurt the Eagles as Charleston Southern netted three aces during that stretch.
The Lady Bucs led by three points on seven occasions after going on top and had three chances to close the game out up 29-26. But back-to-back kills from Bacic and a CSU attack error knotted the score at 29-29.
Bacic came through again with another kill for a 31-30 advantage and another Lady Buc error gave the Eagles the game.