Furman 3, Davidson 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- The Davidson Wildcat volleyball team finished out its regular season with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-14) loss to the Furman Paladins on Sunday afternoon in SoCon action at Belk Arena.
Six Wildcats were honored in pregame festivities, as seniors Brittany Narr, Alison Dwyer, Tierney Hodge, Lindsay Paroczai, Megan Parks and Kittery Neale appeared for the last time on the court at Belk.
Furman improves to 18-13 overall and earns the second seed with a 11-7 record in the Southern division. The Paladins placed a pair of hitters in double figures in kills in Nicole Palazzo (11) and Katherine Hall (11). Setter Kelsey Salava finished with a match-high 32 assists, and Stephanie Smith led Furman with nine digs.
For the Wildcats, Neale led with seven kills and three blocks, and setter Hayley Lawson tallied 24 assists. Freshman Christine Perzinski led all players with 10 digs.
The seniors will make another postseason appearance, as the Wildcats earned the fourth seed in the Southern division and a showdown with No. 1 in the North Division, Samford, at 12:30 p.m. Friday at UNC Greensboro's Fleming Gym. Davidson enters the tournament 12-19 overall and wraps up the regular season with a 7-11 league mark.
College of Charleston 3, Appalachian State 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Playing on her old high school court, sophomore setter Cole Dawley (Charleston, S.C.) dished out a match-high 26 assists and added 11 digs and freshman middle blocker Elyse Chubb (Peachtree City, Ga.) continued her torrid hitting with nine kills and a .533 hitting percentage as the College of Charleston (24-6, 17-1) closed out the regular season with a 3-0 victory over Appalachian State (7-25, 3-15) in Charleston, S.C. The Cougars claimed the match by scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 25-21.
Having dropped the first two sets in their previous meeting in Boone, N.C., the Cougars made certain that they would not face those same circumstances again as they quickly built an 8-1 lead in Game 1 before pushing their advantage to 13-3. With the score at 19-9, the Mountaineers used an 8-3 run that featured six kills and a pair of service aces to close to within 22-17. That would be as close as they would get, however, as Charleston responded by scoring three of the next four points to take the set 25-18.
Trailing 1-0 in the match, ASU came out strong at the start of the second set as they took a 4-2 lead behind back-to-back service aces from junior defensive specialist Heather Kale. While the lead would be short lived as the Cougars tied the game at 7-7, the Mountaineers would not go away.
The two teams would deadlock seven more times over the next 16 points before reaching a 15-15 score. A pair of kills and a pair of ASU attack errors then keyed a 4-0 Charleston run that gave them a 19-15 advantage and spurred the Cougars on to a 25-19 victory and 2-0 match lead.
It would be another closely contested affair in Game 3 as neither team would be separated by more than three points as the Cougars managed leads of 9-6 and 12-9. Appalachian State stayed close, evening the set at 16-16 before Charleston would take the lead for good at 17-16.
From there, a 7-3 run would bring the set to match point at 24-19 before junior outside hitter Emily Sawin (New Lenox, Ill.) ended it with her sixth kill of the afternoon. The 25-19 victory closed out the 3-0 sweep of the Mountaineers and the 2008 Southern Conference regular season. The Cougars finished with a 24-6 overall record and 17-1 mark in the conference.
Junior middle blocker Becca Norris led Appalachian State with a match-high tying nine kills while junior outside hitter Maja Jechorek finished with seven kills, eight digs and team-high three blocks. Freshman setter Kasey Sauls and senior setter Charissa Clearman split the setting duties with 14 and 11 assists, respectively. Heather Kale led the team with 11 digs and posted a match-high three service aces.
Elyse Chubb drilled a match-high tying nine kills and posted a .533 hitting percentage, along with four blocks, while Cole Dawley finished with 26 assists and 11 digs for her team-leading 12th double-double. Sophomore right side hitter Ginny Phillips (Raleigh, N.C.) pounded nine kills and hit .467 while adding two service aces and sophomore outside hitter Whitney Russell (Decatur, Ga.) had seven kills. Freshman libero Emily Shelton (Cincinnati, Ohio) led the defense with a match-high 12 digs and Emily Sawin chipped in with nine digs to go along with her six kills.
The Cougars are the No. 1 seed out of the South Division for the 2008 Southern Conference Tournament and will face No. 4 Elon from the North Divison at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, November 21. The tournament will be held in Greensboro, North Carolina from November 21-23 with the champion receiving the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
NOTES
Elyse Chubb hit .656 and finished with 23 kills (3.83 p/s) and nine blocks (1.50 p/s) on the weekend ... the Cougars 17-1 Southern Conference record marks the fifth one-loss conference season in the Division I history of the program ... Charleston finished 17-1 in 2006, 15-1 in 2004, 17-1 in 2003 and 19-1 in 2001 ... the 2005 team posted an 18-0 record for only the second undefeated mark since the Cougars joined the Southern Conference in 1998 ... Charleston has won 12 straight matches and 19 of its last 20 ... the Cougars played their final home game at Bishop England High School, the alma mater of current setter Cole Dawley.
The Citadel 3, Western Carolina 1
Charleston, S.C. ? Tatum Jestila recorded a career-high 19 kills in her seventh double-double performance of the season and Rachel Sanders notched 17 kills as The Citadel volleyball team closed the 2008 season with a 3-1 victory over Western Carolina in McAlister Field House. Set scores were 25-17, 19-25, 25-17 and 25-20.
Jestila’s 17 kills and 16 digs led all players in the match as The Citadel (9-23, 2-16 Southern) handed Western Carolina (6-26, 3-15 SoCon) their fourth consecutive loss. The Bulldogs recorded a season-high 70 kills in the match.
With the win, head coach Carolyn Geiger became the school’s all-time winningest coach in Southern Conference matches.
Four Bulldogs recorded double-digit kills as Amanda Beal and Jessica Maas added 10 kills apiece. The Bulldogs hit .316, the team’s highest hitting percentage since hitting .360 against Wofford on Sept. 19. The Bulldog defense limited the Catamount offense to a .246 hitting percentage in the match.
Emily Hill recorded 48 assists in the match, a season-high for the senior in the final match of her career. Sanders added 14 digs to The Citadel’s defensive effort, matched by Ashley Winter’s 14
digs.
“What a way to end the season,” said Geiger. “I am so proud of this team. They persevered and played well today. Everyone contributed to this last win of the season. We could have easily lost focus because of yesterday’s loss but we came together and worked hard to bring home this win.”
“I truly believe this program is headed in the right direction. We have a great foundation to build from both in the spring and next season.”
The Citadel led through almost all of the first set as the Bulldog offense hit an impressive .500 in the set and notched 20 kills. The Bulldogs were led by Jestila’s six kills and .667 hitting percentage in the set while Blaine McAllister recorded four kills with a .444 hitting percentage. Beal also recorded four kills in the set.
Western Carolina led through the entire second set as The Citadel struggled to maintain the offense dominance that prevailed throughout the first set. The Bulldogs held the advantage in kills, 15-14, but Western Carolina’s .375 hitting percentage kept the Catamounts on top through the second frame. Sanders led The Citadel with five kills while WCU’s Carrie Minogue and Kara Lynzee Brooks recorded four kills each.
The Bulldog offense improved in the third set, hitting .353 to Western Carolina’s .233. Four service aces by four different girls added to the offensive effort that saw Jestila and Sanders lead the team with five kills each. The Citadel led the entire set in the 25-17 victory, putting the Bulldogs within one set victory for their second conference win of the season.
Beal, Jestila, Maas and Sanders all contributed four kills in the final set as the Bulldogs clinched the match win with a 25-20 victory. Winter led the defensive effort for The Citadel with six digs while Jestila added five.
The Bulldogs close the season with a one-game improvement over last season’s Southern Conference record in Geiger’s third season at The Citadel.