Elon 3, Wofford 1
ELON, N.C.- Elon’s 13 total blocks, including a career high eight from freshman Traci Stewart (one solo, seven assisted), help guide the Phoenix to a 3-1 (25-22, 25-14, 25-18, 25-20) victory over Wofford in SoCon volleyball action Sunday afternoon in Alumni Gym. The win improved Elon to 13-8, including a 2-2 mark in league play. Wofford’s record drops to 11-8 on the season and 1-3 in the conference.
Set one saw 13 ties, seven before either team scored 10 points, and three lead changes before the Terriers took the set 25-22. Elon scored the opening two points, before an attack errors by the Phoenix tied the score at two. The team’s battled back and forth on the next six possession until consecutive kills be Wofford’s Shanna Hughes sparked a six point run that gave the Terriers a 12-9 lead. Elon tied it at 12 behind the serving of Shelly MacBean. Wofford scored on four of the next five possessions to regain a three-point lead and force Elon to take a timeout at the 16-13 mark. The teams tied four more times before Wofford scored five of the final seven points to take the set.
Elon jumped out to an early 11-3 lead in the second set. The Phoenix defense overpowered the Terriers, as the team never came within seven. Elon held Wofford to a .133 attack percentage, registering three six total blocks, including three by Stewart. Elon went on to hit .412 for the set and record 17 kills, including six by Caroline Lemke.
The Phoenix scored five of the last nine points to take the set 25-14 off of kills by Sarah Schermerhorn and Lemke.
The Phoenix carried the momentum into set three, scoring 11 of the opening 15 points to take an early 11-4 lead. Highlighting the run was a Schermerhorn service and two Lemke kills. Wofford brought the set within five at the 12-7 mark, but would not come any closer as Elon controlled the entire set. Trailing 24-13, Wofford scored five straight, but could not find an answer for Elon’s offense attack as Lemke scored the final point of the set to win 25-18.
Behind the service of MacBean, Elon built a 7-2 lead that including six straight points. The run ended after a Phoenix attack error. Wofford brought the set within two at the 9-7 mark, before a block by Schermerhorn and Stewart ended the Terrier run. Elon scored four straight points, highlighted by a Regan service ace and a solo block by Lemke, before Wofford answered with back-to-back points that caused Elon to take a timeout at the 17-14 mark. Elon allowed Wofford to come within two at the 20-18 mark, but would not let them advance further as the Phoenix took the set 25-20 off a Schermerhorn service ace.
Emily Regan recorded 32 assists to lead the Phoenix to a .206 attack percentage. Lemke, who hit .417, and Stewart each recorded double-digit kills with 12 and 10, respectively. Schermerhorn and Mandy Wilson added eight kills each.
The Phoenix defense was the story of the match, as the team held its’ opponent to an attack percentage of just .096. Six Phoenix players were in on at least one block. Stewart’s eight led team, followed by six a piece for Schermerhorn and Lemke. Lauren Copenhagen had two assisted blocks on the day, while Wilson and Regan added one each. Kelley Blakewood had a match-high 23 digs.
Wofford’s Shanna Hughes and Brittany Thompson each recorded double-digit kills with 16 and 11. Lindsey Richardson had the team’s third-best kill total with eight. Joanna Suddath added one kill to go along with her match-high 35 assists.
The Phoenix will continue its home stand Wednesday evening when UNC Greensboro visits Alumni Gym at 7 p.m. The team asks all fans to wear pink to the match as Elon is participating in the 2008 Dig For the Cure, a national campaign to promote breast cancer awareness. Fans may purchase Dig For the Cure t-shirts that commemorate the match. All proceeds of the t-shirt sales will benefit the local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Samford 3, Western Carolina 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball nabbed its ninth straight win Sunday afternoon in a 3-0 victory of Western Carolina. The win marks the longest win streak in Samford volleyball history since the 1991 squad posted eight wins in a row. The Bulldogs posted their eighth win on Saturday with a 3-1 win over Appalachian State.
“This weekend was good for us because we are starting to realize that teams are going to try to out-defend what we are doing,” Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. “Western Carolina just dug a lot of balls and kept a lot of balls alive hoping that we would get frustrated and break down. It is a good weekend for us, moving forward, in that we didn’t have very many breakdowns but we also start to realize what type of match we have to play in the Southern Conference to be successful.”
Gadberry started things off for Samford in the first set with back-to-back kills to put the Bulldogs up 2-0. An error by Western Carolina gave Samford a three-point lead, but then a Samford error landed the Catamounts their first point of the match. Sosnowski and Sears answered back with kills and the Bulldogs soon led by four. Samford then took a five-point lead on a huge block by Sosnowski then led by six after a kill by Adams before the Catamounts took a timeout with the score at 15-9. Out of the break, the Catamounts scored quickly but Samford then went on a 10-5 run to take the first set, 25-15.
Western Carolina came out in set two and posted two quick points. However, a kill by Stangohr and an ace by Fountain quickly tied the score. WCU took another two-point lead but the Bulldogs tied the score again and took over. The Catamounts kept it for a while before Samford went on a 7-3 run to take a seven-point lead. WCU fought to get back within three several times but Samford pushed the lead back out to five on three kills by Adams and two kills by Sosnowski. After a Catamount timeout, WCU went on a 4-1 run to cut the lead to one but Samford took a timeout and came back with a kill by Sears to get a set point. An attack error by WCU gave the Bulldogs the 25-22 win.
The Catamounts came out in set three and took the first point on a service ace. However, that would be their last lead of the match as Samford quickly took a four-point lead on kills by Stangohr, Sears and Adams and an ace by Stangohr. WCU fought to get back within one at 14-13, but the Bulldogs took over and went on a 10-3 run to end the match. Back-to-back kills by Gadberry and a kill by Sosnowski gave Samford the 25-16 win of game three and wrapped up the Bulldogs’ ninth straight victory.
The Bulldogs (15-2, 4-0 SoCon) held the Catamounts (3-14, 1-3 SoCon) to a .048 hitting percentage in the first set and knocked down an 87 percent side-out efficiency as well. Samford led throughout the entire first set and only trailed once in each of the last two. As a team, the Bulldogs had 44 digs, the second most for the squad in a three-set match so far this season. They also posted 53 kills and 49 digs, the most for the team in a three-set match this year as well.
“I’m very happy with our defense,” Schroeder said. “We tried to take our defense, this week, and work very hard at it, because it has been our weakness and we want to turn it into our strength. We don’t want to just get better at it; we want to turn it into a strength. Courtney Gay very good defensive weekend and so did all of our defensive specialists.”
Gay led the Bulldogs in digs with 13 while posting an .875 receiving percentage and also grabbing two assists. She was followed by Ashley Adams who added 12 digs to her 18 kills for her seventh double-double of the season. Adams also posted a .457 hitting percentage along with one assist and one block assist. Rachel Gadberry led her team in hitting with a career-high .692 hitting percentage, knocking down nine kills on 13 attempts with zero errors. She also grabbed one block assist.
Sheriden Stangohr posted nine kills, three aces, one assist, one dig and one block assist while Kirstein Sosnowski added seven digs, hitting .400, and knocking down one block solo. Sara Sears grabbed eight kills and two digs while Hillary Fountain dished out 45 assists, four digs, two aces and two kills. Sarah Gardner had seven digs and Samantha Bland had five.
Samford is back in action early this week as it hits the road for a mid-week match against Chattanooga on Wednesday, Oct. 8. Match play begins at 6 p.m. CT. The Bulldogs will then return home to host Furman and Wofford on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 11-12. The Furman match will be at 7 p.m., following Samford’s football game against Appalachian State on Saturday and the Wofford match will be at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. For more information, go to www.samfordsports.com.
Davidson 3, The Citadel 1
Charleston, S.C. ? The Citadel Volleyball team recorded 16 blocks in their 3-1 (27-29, 25-16, 20-25, 11-25) loss to Davidson Sunday afternoon. Sophomores Blaine McAllister and Jessica Maas recorded double-digit kills, while Tatum Jestila and Rachel Sanders contributed on defense with double-digit digs.
McAllister and Maas each recorded 11 kills on 30 total attacks. Jestila had 13 digs, while Sanders tallied 16 digs.
The Bulldogs earned four service aces and 39 assists. Emily Hill contributed 30 of the Bulldogs’ 39 assists.
“I thought we played well in the first and second sets,” said Head Coach Carolyn Geiger. “We controlled the second set and blocked many of their hitters. Unfortunately, we struggled offensively tonight with our outsides as the match progressed. We need to use a wider shot selection to put points on the board.”
The Bulldogs (6-10) battled Davidson (6-11) in the first set, taking the set into extra points. The Citadel fell behind in the beginning, with the Wildcats in control for the majority of the match. The score was tied seven times throughout the match with a lead change only twice. The first lead change came with a service ace by Kathryn Johnston, which put the Bulldogs ahead, 24-23. A service error by Johnston would follow immediately, tying the set at 24-24. An attack error by Jestila would put the Wildcats ahead, 24-25. A kill by Maas would tie the set back up, but the Bulldogs were unable to climb ahead, falling 29-27.
The Citadel dominated Davidson in the second set, claiming a 25-16 victory. Of the Bulldogs’ 16 blocks, 14 came in the second set. Amanda Beal and Shannon Frain contributed with five block assists, respectively, while McAllister and Maas both had two block assists. The Bulldogs took the lead from the first point and stayed in control for the whole match, never allowing the Wildcats a chance to jump ahead. Beal finished the match with six blocks and Frain finished with five.
Set three was a back-and-forth battle between both teams with two lead changes. The Wildcats took control in the beginning of the set, but the Bulldogs fought back. Davidson was on a 3-0 run when a kill by McAllister sparked the Bulldogs. An attack error by Sarabeth Peele would put the Bulldogs ahead, 6-5. A kill by Jestila put the ball back in The Citadel’s court, giving them a chance to pull away. The Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run, but a ball handling error by Frain would give the Wildcats hope. With the score tied at 12-12, an attack error by Beal sent the Wildcats ahead and they never looked back, claiming the set, 25-20.
The fourth and final set was a tough one for the Bulldogs, who couldn’t seem to get their offense going. Davidson claimed the set from the whistle, keeping the lead for the entire set. The Bulldogs were unable to jump ahead of the Wildcats, getting within one point of the Wildcats at 2-3. A one point deficit was the only light Davidson allowed the Bulldogs to see. The set ended with a block assist by Hayley Lawson and Madison Benedict, ending the set, 25-11, and giving Davidson the match.
“Davidson did a good job of putting up a huge block in the fourth set and we didn’t adjust,” said Geiger. “We hit too many balls in the net, in the block and out of bounds. Davidson was on today. We have to put this match behind us and prepare for the College of Charleston, which will be a big conference match for us.”
The Bulldogs will take on the College of Charleston on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at McAlister Field House at 7:00 p.m. Live statistics and a live video stream will be available. For more information on Bulldog Volleyball, visit the official website of The Citadel Athletics at www.CitadelSports.com.