College of Charleston 3, The Citadel 0
The College of Charleston opened conference action with a 3-0 victory (30-25, 30-12, 30-19) over cross-town rival The Citadel Tuesday at the McAlister Fieldhouse in Charleston, S.C. The win marked the 17th straight victory over the Bulldogs.
“It feels good to be 1-0 in the conference. It took us awhile to start playing consistently. I thought that games two and three we played at a very high level. We will need to continue to play at that level this weekend against two more conference opponents.”
Leading the Cougars offensively was Emily Sawin who had 15 kills out of an attempted 18 for a .789 attack percentage. Sawin also had 18 digs to record a double-double. Senior Annie Uthe had 11 kills (.444) with Tiffany Blum and Whitney Russell adding 10 a piece. Deanna Patrick was also nine for 16 for a .500 attack percentage. Setter Lindsey Kane tallied 49 assists. Four Charleston players had service aces
Defensively, Sawin led the team with 18 digs. Freshman Cole Dawley added an additional 10, with Lindsey Kane and Paige Johnson recording seven a piece. Tiffany Blum had a team leading four assisted blocks while Whitney Russell and Lindsey Kane had two assisted blocks.
For the Bulldogs, Rachel Sanders led the team in kills with 12. Setter Emily Hill had 25 assists, six digs, and two assisted blocks. Jessica Maas led the team in blocks with three assisted blocks in addition to her six kills.
Charleston returns to the John Kresse Arena Saturday when they take on UNC Greensboro at 2:00. They will also face Elon Sunday.
Chattanooga 3, Western Carolina 0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Senior middle blockers Julianna Martinez (Austin, Texas) and Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) combined for 23 kills and seven blocks and setter Bethany Herndon (Richmond, Texas) dished out a match-high 42 assists to lead Chattanooga (5-6, 1-0) to a 3-0 victory over Western Carolina (5-11, 0-1) Tuesday evening at Maclellan Gym in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Lady Mocs open the Southern Conference season with a win with scores of 30-15, 30-20 and 30-13. It is Chattanooga's third straight victory and second consecutive sweep.
The Lady Mocs wasted little time in asserting control of the match early on as they jumped out to a 10-7 lead. A 15-4 run, fueled in part by four kills from Ball, helped Chattanooga extend to a commanding 25-11 advantage before wrapping up the game 30-15 for a 1-0 match lead.
In Game 2, it was more of the same as UTC quickly opened with a 3-0 lead before the Catamounts rallied back to within 8-6. Ball then added three more kills as part of a dominating 12-1 run that put the Lady Mocs squarely back in control of the game with a 20-7 advantage. It was a deficit that Western Carolina would not recover from, despite rallying to within ten points before falling 30-20.
The Catamounts fought back from down 8-3 at the start of Game 3 to rally to within 12-10 before UTC put the match away. Chattanooga posted another dominating run as they outscored WCU 18-3 over the remainder of the game to wrap up the match with a 30-13 victory. Martinez and senior outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy, Ill.) each added three kills as the Lady Mocs swept their conference opener, 3-0.
Sophomore setter Katie Hennessey led Western Carolina with 15 assists and added 10 digs while freshman outside hitter Jelena Jakovjevic finished with a team-high six kills. Sophomore libero Liz Rondone finished the match with a team-high 15 digs.
For the Lady Mocs, Ball led the way with 13 kills and four blocks and Martinez added 10 kills and three blocks. Currently #1 in the nation in digs, Chattanooga registered 77 digs on the evening and was led by the top player nationally in that category, junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) with a match-high 21 digs. She was joined by senior outside hitter Kelsey Amundson (Houston, Texas) with 14 digs, freshman outside hitter Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) with 12 and junior setter Michaela Huff (Dallas, Texas) with 10 digs. Amundson also added nine kills on the evening.
Leslee Ball's 13 kills on the evening move her into sole possession of sixth all-time on the Lady Mocs kills list with 1,085. She is currently 48 kills away from tying from fifth all-time.
The Lady Mocs will be back in action when they host the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Saturday, September 22 at 2 p.m.
Elon 3, Georgia Southern 1
ELON, N.C. ? Behind an impressive defensive performance that included 16 team blocks, the Elon Phoenix (6-7, 1-0 SoCon) volleyball team defeated Georgia Southern 3-1 (30-27, 26-30, 30-21, 30-26) in the first Southern Conference match of the 2007 season. The Eagles fall to 3-11, 0-2 SoCon on the year.
Elon was led defensively by freshman Sarah Schermerhorn who tallied nine block assists in the four-game set. Schermerhorn added eight kills (.333) and two service aces on the night.
Offensively, the Phoenix was led by seniors Britany Westphal and Emily Lucci who posted 16 and 14 kills, respectively.
Game one was tied at 27-all before Schermerhorn served out the frame, leading Elon to a 30-27 victory and a 1-0 advantage in the match. Lucci led with five kills and hit .667, with Schermerhorn adding three block assists.
The second frame went to the Eagles, who were led by junior Bianca Julio’s seven kills. GSU held Elon to a .143 team hitting percentage, while hitting .311 themselves as the Eagles went on to win 30-26 and tie the match at one-one.
In the third game, Elon’s defense stifled GSU, holding the Eagles to a .028 team hitting percentage. The Phoenix tallied six team blocks, led by Lucci’s two solo blocks and two block assists as they rallied to take a 2-1 advantage in the match with a 30-21 win.
Westphal led the Phoenix offensively in the final match, posting a team-leading five kills as Elon took the match 3-1 with a 30-26 win in the final game.
Senior Natalie Moore tallied 45 assists as the Phoenix’s primary setter. Kelley Blakewood, a junior-transfer, posted 27 digs, followed closely by junior Shelley MacBean’s 22.
Elon takes to the road this weekend, facing The Citadel on Saturday, Sept. 22 and College of Charleston on Sunday, Sept. 23. Both matches are set for 2 p.
UNCG 3, North Carolina A&T 0
GREENSBORO, NC ? The UNC Greensboro volleyball team extended its win streak to three games with a 3-0 win over cross-town rival, North Carolina A&T at The Corbett Sports Center on Tuesday evening. UNCG won by scores of 32-30,
30-23 and 30-21.
UNCG (8-7) was led by Kaitlyn Nortz who tallied 13 kills while teammate Catherine Hanners had a team-high 14 digs. Setter Lisa Fawell tallied a match-high 35 assists.
Krystal Cooper and Brenden Chatman led North Carolina A&T (0-16) with 11 kills each. Stacy Malone recorded a team-high 12 digs.
North Carolina A&T opened up a 9-7 lead in game one behind early UNCG miscues the Spartans were able to get as close as 14-10 but the Lady Aggies used kills from Krystal Cooper and Brenden Chatman to extend their lead to 18-11. UNCG responded after a timeout with a kill from Nortz and several A&T mistakes to cut the lead to 19-14 midway through the first game. The Spartans went on a 7-3 run to cut the Aggie lead to 27-23 and closed the game on a 5-1 run to take game one 32-30.
In the second game, UNCG opened on a 3-1 run but miscues allowed A&T to get back into the game. The Aggies scored five consecutive points to take a 7-5 lead and extended their lead to five points behind kills from Cooper and Chatman.
UNCG got back in the game with kills from Kayren Finney, Billi Baker and Branagan Fuller to cut the lead to 12-10 but A&T used their offense to extend their lead to 16-14. A kill from Katherine Hart coupled with several Aggie miscues gave UNCG a 17-16 lead halfway through the game.
A&T wouldn’t go away and the later half of the game featured four ties and three lead changes but a 10-6 run put the Spartans ahead for good and gave them game two by a score of 30-23.
The third game featured four lead changes through the game first 20 points with neither team holding a lead of more than two points. UNCG was able to get on a bit of a roll midway through the game behind back-to-back kills from Hart.
UNCG pulled out to a 24-17 lead and completed the sweep by going on a 3-2 run to close the game. The Spartan out-hit the Aggies, .274 to .91 for the match.
The Spartans are next in action this weekend when they head to Charleston, SC to take on Southern Conference rivals The Citadel and College of Charleston. UNCG takes on The Citadel Friday at 7 pm in McAlister Fieldhouse and will face College of Charleston Saturday. First serve is set for 2 pm.
Davidson 0, Winthrop 3
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? Senior Katie Pierucci posted 10 kills and 13 digs for her fifth double-double of the season, but the Wildcat volleyball squad dropped a 3-0 decision (30-28, 30-23, 30-22) to the Winthrop Eagles on Tuesday night at Belk Arena.
With 11 kills, freshman Sarabeth Peele joined Pierucci in double figures for Davidson (5-8).
But Winthrop?s Shannon Sitzmann, the Big South Preseason Player of the Year, proved herself as much, tallying 13 kills and nine blocks and hitting .360 to pace the Eagle offense. Kellie Sellers (11) and Tara Toepke (13) also touched double digits for Winthrop, who improved to 4-9.
In game one, the two teams traded points until the end, with 13 ties and a pair of lead changes. Tied at 28, Toepke posted her fifth kill of the game to give the Eagles a game-point chance and a Wildcat attack error lifted Winthrop to a 30-28 victory.
The Eagles took an early 10-3 lead in game two and forced Davidson to play catch-up the rest of the way. Trailing 28-18, Pierucci served four straight points to give the ?Cats a chance, but Winthrop went on for the 30-23 win to take a two-game advantage in the match.
After the break, the 'Cats went back on the offensive, taking a 15-12 lead and forcing the Eagles into a timeout. Davidson led until 19-16 when Sellers ran off four straight points to knot the score and force the ?Cats to take a timeout. Sellers kept rolling, getting two more points to give Winthrop a 21-20 lead. Davidson again knotted things at 22, but Winthrop libero Pohai Nu?Uhiwa served the game out, taking eight straight points to win the match with a 30-22 victory.
Davidson will open Southern Conference play this weekend, traveling to Cullowhee, N.C. for a 2 p.m. match at Western Carolina on Sat., Sept. 22, and continuing to Chattanooga, Tenn. to face Chattanooga at 2 p.m. on Sun., Sept. 23.