Georgia Southern 3, The Citadel 0
STATESBORO, Ga. --- Georgia Southern held The Citadel to a -.061 hitting percentage and had nine blocks in a 3-0 (25-13, 25-11, 25-20) volleyball sweep Friday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Eagles even their record at 15-15 overall and 8-7 in the Southern Conference while the Bulldogs drop to 8-21 and 1-14.
“It was a good effort tonight,” said GSU head coach Chad Callihan. “We came out really focused and set the tone early for the match. I thought we did a pretty good job of sustaining it. We caught The Citadel on their heels a little bit early then in the third game they played better but we did a good job of sustaining.”
The Citadel’s attack percentage is the lowest by a SoCon opponent all season. The Bulldogs hit -.102 in the first two sets combined.
“I thought our defense was good,” said Callihan. “I attribute a lot of it to our serving. We really wanted to be aggressive and we did a good job of that. I was pleased to see we had a higher ace than error ratio and it earned us a lot of points and allowed us to get our defense set.”
On the other side of the net, the Eagles hit .393 over the first two sets. They never trailed in set two, jumping out to a 4-0 lead and ending it on an 11-1 run.
GSU’s eight aces are also a season-high against a league team.
“I just think we were really focused,” said Callihan. “We spent a lot of time on working on transitioning off the net to be a little bit quicker to allow ourselves better attack position. Everything was crisp and I feel like when we’re focused and playing with purpose we can do some pretty good things.”
Freshman Bethany Sanford (Avondale, Ariz.) led all players with eight kills and added two aces. Freshman Lauren Claybaugh (Danville, Calif.) and sophomore Sarah Gildersleeve (Naples, Fla.) each had seven kills. Claybaugh added two aces and two block assists while Gildersleeve totaled five blocks, including one solo.
Junior Cristin Haines (Palos Heights, Ill.) paced the defense with 18 digs.
Georgia Southern takes a day off before taking on SoCon South Division leader College of Charleston Sunday at 2 p.m.
College of Charleston 3, Davidson 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Leading the Southern Division and tied for first place in the Southern Conference, the College of Charleston Bulldogs stayed atop the league standings with a 3-1 (29-27, 21-25, 25-17, 25-16) win over the Davidson Wildcat volleyball team Friday night at Belk Arena.
Charleston improves to 21-6 overall and 14-1 in the conference, while Davidson drops to 11-17 and 6-9 in SoCon play.
The Cougars placed a pair of hitters in double figures, as Emily Sawin (14 kills) and Elyse Chubb paced the offensive attack. Setter Cole Dawley finished the night with 42 assists, and Emily Shelton led the defense with 23 digs. Dawley double-doubled with 13 digs, the only other Cougar in double figures.
Freshman Madison Benedict had a career-high 15 kills, while hitting a team-best .423 in the match. Classmate Christine Perzinski added 11 kills, and sophomore Sarabeth Peele posted 10. Senior Kittery Neale had eight kills and 13 digs, while sophomore Jen Chamblee finished with a team-high 16 digs. Sophomore setter Hayley Lawson tallied 39 assists.
Davidson jumped out to an early 10-5 lead in the first set, but the Cougars chipped away, finally knotting the score at 22. A Wildcat attack error gave the Cougars the 23-22 edge, but neither team could get any traction. Davidson survived a set-point, trailing 26-25, and after a Cougar blocking error, Chamblee's ace gave the 'Cats a chance. Three straight Wildcat errors delivered the 29-27 dramatic win.
Charleston opened the second set with a 10-5 run, but Davidson battled back and tied the score at 15. The 'Cats scored the next two points to take a slight lead, but the Cougars answered to tie the set at 17. The teams traded points, with the 'Cats maintaining the edge, until Lawson put together a four-point serve to lift the 'Cats to a 25-21 win to even the match.
The third set was competitive, tied at 11-11 midway through, when the Cougars started to pull away with a 3-1 run. Charleston pushed its lead to 19-13 with a 5-1 stretch and closed out the 25-17 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The fourth set played out similarly, with the score tied at 8-8 when Dawley served six straight to put Charleston up 16-8. The Cougars went on to win the match with a 25-16 victory.
Davidson will return to action tomorrow night, hosting The Citadel at 7 p.m. at Belk Arena.