Samford 3, Davidson 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Ashley Adams got 17 kills to help her Samford Bulldogs to their first ever Southern Conference win with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-13) triumph over the Davidson Wildcat volleyball team Saturday afternoon at Belk Arena.
With the win, Samford remains atop the league standings, improving to 12-2 overall and 1-0 in league play. Davidson drops to 4-10 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
Sophomore outsider hitter Sarabeth Peele made a strong showing for the Wildcat offense, finishing with 12 kills on 28 swings. Freshman Madison Benedict and senior middle blocker Kittery Neale each had eight kills. As a team, the Wildcats hit .273 (32-11-77), but the Bulldogs offense proved too powerful.
Adams hit .483 (17-3-29) for Samford, who put together a team hitting percentage of .433 (47-8-90). Sheriden Stangohr had 10 kills on just 13 swings, hitting a match-high .769 (10-0-13).
Both teams came ready to play in the first set, trading points through 9-9 before Samford took a slight lead on three straight scores. The 'Cats regrouped after a quick timeout, and Peele put away a set from sophomore setter Hayley Lawson. Davidson kept pace the rest of the way, and back-to-back kills from Benedict and Lawson put them within a point, 17-16.
The Bulldogs put together a 3-1 run to take a 20-17 lead, proving the final margin in the 25-22 win.
In the second set, the teams again traded points to open play and were knotted at 8-8 when Samantha Bland served six straight points to put the Bulldogs up, 15-8. Davidson would win the next three on a pair of errors and an ace from Lawson to make it 15-11, but Sara Sears stopped the Wildcat rally. Back-to-back attacks from Peele and Neale pulled the 'Cats within three, 18-15, but the Bulldogs closed out the game with a 7-4 run to take a 2-0 advantage in the match with a 25-19 win.
After the break, the final set was competitive early, with Davidson down just a point, 10-9, near the half-way point. Hillary Fountain gave the Bulldogs possession, and Stangohr served three straight aces to push that lead to 14-9. Samford took control of the game with a 5-1 run and Courtney Gay served out the game with a five straight points, including three aces, for a 25-13 win.
Davidson will return to action tomorrow, hosting Chattanooga at 2 p.m.
Chattanooga 3, Georgia Southern 1
STATESBORO, Ga. --- The Georgia Southern volleyball team was unable to overcome a slow start and fell 3-1 (30-28, 26-24, 23-25, 25-23) to Chattanooga Saturday at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Lady Mocs win their Southern Conference opener and improve to 6-9 overall. The Eagles drop to 7-9 and 1-1.
“I thought that we had absolutely no focus or discipline to start the match and that’s really what it comes down to,” said GSU head coach Chad Callihan. “When you beat a team statistically and we outhit a team by 40 points and lose the match. That’s just not supposed to happen. We outblocked them 12 to six. We just weren’t able to maintain consistency ? 15 service errors, untimely hitting errors. I can remember four opportunities where we had an opportunity to serve to take the lead and missed all four of those serves. We really weren’t giving ourselves a chance to push ahead. But give credit to Chattanooga, they’re a scrappy team. But when you’re ahead statistically like that you’re supposed to win the match.”
Georgia Southern held a .185 to .144 advantage in hitting percentage and a 12 to six margin in blocking.
GSU battled back from a 10-5 deficit in set one and a 19-11 deficit in set two to eventually take the lead but were unable to close either frame out. The Eagles had set points in both games.
“It was exactly what we talked about with the Davidson match where we put pressure on them,” said Callihan. “I think the only difference was Wednesday we were putting pressure on Davidson, today I felt like we put pressure on ourselves. I don’t think it was any one thing that Chattanooga did to separate themselves from us, I just think we weren’t ready to play. The errors we made were at critical times and that cost us.”
The Lady Mocs had four players record double-figure kills, led by Courtney Barnes who totaled 15 on a .400 attack percentage. Lara Newberry recorded a match-high 34 digs and Cassie Connor had 49 assists.
For the Eagles, freshman Bethany Sanford (Avondale, Ariz.) tallied a team-high 16 kills while sophomore Michelle Uzoh (San Antonio, Texas) posted 10 and nine block assists.
GSU returns to the court Sunday to take on Samford at 2 p.m.
Elon 3, Appalachian State 2
BOONE, N.C. - Carla Durham's 19 kills and seven blocks were not enough to carry Appalachian State University volleyball to its first Southern Conference win of the year as the Mountaineers (4-12, 0-2) fell in five sets against visiting Elon on Saturday at the Holmes Center. Sophomore Jordan Jesberg added 18 kills, 14 digs and a pair of aces but the Phoenix came away with a 23-25, 15-25, 25-18, 25-17, 15-12 win.
The first set opened in favor of the Phoenix (12-5, 1-0) as Elon picked up a seven-point lead at 14-7 before the Apps got rolling and closed the gap to tie at 22-22. From there the teams tied one more time at 23-23 before Caroline Sedon and Lauren Swecker posted the final two kills of the set to put it away at 25-23.
Swecker ended the day with 11 kills and three blocks.
The Apps hit .061 in the opening round but held Elon to a .000 mark with the help of six early blocks. ASU finished the match with 12 blocks, including four each from Maggie Seeds and Sedon. Each player recorded four kills in the match as well.
Appalachian's momentum carried over in the second set as the team opened with a 10-5 lead before using a 5-0 run to put the set out of reach. ASU won 25-15 to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission. The Mountaineers committed just two errors in the second set and hit a whopping .448 compared to a .125 mark for the Phoenix. The Apps again out-blocked the visitors in the second by a margin of 3-to-0.
It was a totally different story after the break as Elon powered back in the third set with a 25-18 win. ASU hit .343 in the third set but were unable to overcome 15 kills by the visitors.
Heather Kale led all players with 24 digs in the match while Swecker added 15 and Jesberg had 14 of her own.
Elon continued to roll in the fourth set as the Phoenix scored the first five points of the set and extended the lead to as many as 9 points at 18-9 before putting the Apps away 25-17 to force a fifth set. Durham collected four of her 19 kills and one of her seven blocks but the Apps hit just .036 in the set.
The fifth set was as close as expected as ASU rallied back from an early deficit to tie the set four times late. The final three points of the match belonged to the Phoenix, however, as a pair of kills by Sarah Schermerhorn secured the set and match for Elon.
The Mountaineers take to the road to face Chattanooga at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 3.
College of Charleston 3, Furman 1
GREENVILLE, S.C. ? The Furman Paladin volleyball team fell to the College of Charleston Cougars in SoCon action on Saturday night.
The Paladins came out strong and cruised to a 6-0 lead before Charleston’s Whitney Russell stopped the run with a kill. Undaunted by the point, Furman scored three straight, and continued to use the momentum to take a 25-15 win in the first set, helped by five team blocks and six kills from senior Alison West.
The Cougars responded in the second set, turning the tables on the Paladins and taking a 17-10 lead in the middle of the set en route to claiming a 25-14 win to even the match at one set apiece, helped by five team blocks and Furman’s .098 team hitting percentage.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair which saw 10 tie scores. Furman took the early lead, but Charleston managed to tie the score at six, seven and again at 9 before going on a 6-2 run to take a 15-11 lead. The Paladins fought back behind two kills from senior Nicole Palazzo, two blocks from Katherine Hall and Alexis Shaffer and four straight attack errors by the Cougars to take the 18-16 lead, but Furman couldn’t hold on to the lead, allowing Charleston to take the third set 25-23.
Although the Paladins never trailed by more than four in the fourth set and managed to force a tie score at five, Furman could not hold off the Paladins who took the set and the match with a score of 25-20.
Emily Sawin led the Cougars with 15 kills and 12 digs, while sophomore Whitney Russell added 13 kills. Setter Cole Dawley recorded a double-double with 45 assists and 10 digs. Middle blocker Elyse Chubb paced the net defense with seven total blocks and libero Emily Shelton led the floor defense with 28 digs. Charleston managed to out-block the Paladins 10 to nine and out-dig them 70 to 63.
Two Paladins recorded double-doubles on the night, with senior Alison West leading the charge with 17 kills and 15 digs. Freshman Kely Kirby added 10 kills and 11 digs. Middle blocker Palazzo notched 13 kills and libero Brooke Ellison claimed 15 digs, while defensive specialist Carolyn Nicoletti added 10. Freshman Alexis Shaffer contributed five total blocks for the Paladins.
With the loss, Furman falls to 7-7 on the season and 1-1 in the Southern Conference, while Charleston improves to 9-5 overall and 2-0 in league play. The Paladins will return to action on Wednesday, October 1 with a home match against non-conference foe Presbyterian.
UNC Greensboro 3, Western Carolina 2
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina volleyball (2-12, 0-1 SoCon) dropped its opening Southern Conference match to UNC Greensboro (10-5, 2-0 SoCon) 3-2 (25-14, 15-25, 25-21, 12-25, 11-15) Saturday in the Ramsey Center.
A pair of Catamounts reached double figures in kills. Amanda Kerr had 16 kills in the match and freshman Carrie Minogue had 12.
In game one, Western Carolina came out on fire. The Catamounts had the Spartans on their heels and quickly built a 20-8 lead. UNCG did battle back six points to WCU's five in the final points of the match, but Western Carolina had built a comfortable lead to win the game easily. The club was assisted in game one by just one error to UNC Greensboro's seven and UNCG also had three service errors.
Game two was all UNCG, as after committing seven errors in game one, the Spartans had just one in the second frame. Western Carolina, however, suffered from the error bug with six.
Western Carolina battled from behind in game three to tie the game at 13 before UNCG reclaimed the lead winning three straight points before Katie Hennessey's kill stopped the Spartan run. After being down 19-16, Western Carolina went on a 3-0 run that was capped off by a kill by freshman Brittany Lysik to tie the match at 19. With UNCG up 20-19, Lysik struck again with her seventh kill of the match to tie the game again. The Catamounts took the lead 21-20 on a kill by Amanda Kerr but again the match was tied at 21 with a kill by Spartan Kayren Finney. A kill by sophomore Kara Lynzee Brooks and a UNCG error put Western Carolina and another kill by Kerr in the run put Western Carolina at game point, 24-21. Freshman Rebecca Stoltz's solo block gave Western Carolina the win in game three.
UNCG came out and dominated the fourth game, quickly building a 12-3 lead and never looking back. The Spartans capitalized on Catamount miscues and some big kills that were a swinging point in the game. Western Carolina hit -.087 in the game to UNCG's .312.
In the deciding game five, UNCG continued their scorching jumping out to a 4-0 lead before WCU scored a point off a kill by Stoltz. A pair of UNCG errors WCU to within one, 4-3, and then a net violation by the Spartans tied the game at four. Three straight kills by UNG put the Spartans up 7-4. A block by Kerr and Katie Hennessey stopped the UNCG run and a kill by Minogue pulled them within one. UNCG answered with a kill and lead 8-6 when the teams switched sides. A Spartan service error again pulled WCU within one, 8-7, but a WCU error put UNCG up by two again. Down 10-12, a UNCG miscue put Western Carolina back in the match yet again, with the club down 11-12. The Spartans answered with a kill to pull ahead by two and then a block by the Spartans gave them a three point advantage. UNCG won the match on a service ace by Catherine Hanners.
Western Carolina will be back in the Ramsey Center at 3 p.m. Sunday to take on the Elon Phoenix.
Wofford 3, The Citadel 2
SPARTANBURG, S.C.- The Wofford volleyball team got revenge Saturday night battling back from a 2-0 hole to defeat The Citadel 3-2. Wofford fell to The Citadel last weekend in a non-league affair as part of the SCSU Invitational. The Terriers scored a 28-30, 18-25, 25-11, 25-21 and 15-8 triumph in Saturday’s contest.
Wofford (11-6, 1-1 SoCon) took an early lead 7-2 in set one. The Citadel scrapped back to even the match at 10. From that point on both teams went back and forth with neither team taking control of the set. Trailing 25-24, a Kill by Liz Sheets followed by a Stacy Byrd kill gave the Terriers a set point at 26-25. The Bulldogs fought off the set point with a kill by Tatum Jestila to even the score at 26. A Lindsey Richardson kill gave Wofford another set point at 28-27 but the Bulldogs ran off three straight points to end the set.
Set two saw The Citadel jump out early and never trail in the set. The Bulldogs took eight of the opening nine points. Wofford was never back in the set after falling behind 19-10. The Citadel closed out the set with a four point run.
Wofford would rebound in set three however. The Terriers returned the favor jumping out to a 9-3 advantage. A kill by Shanna Hughes stretched the lead out to 14-4. Wofford would then go a run to win 11 of the next 17 points to take the set and cut into The Citadel lead at 2-1.
The Terriers battled back and forth with the Bulldogs early on in set four. Leading 9-8, Wofford won six of the next eight points to take a 15-10 advantage led by Sheets’ three kills. The Terriers would extend the lead to 18-11 on a kill by setter Joanna Suddath. The Bulldogs, trailing 24-15, put on a strong push at the end but the Terriers prevailed.
In the fifth and final set, Wofford once again came out hot taking a 10-3 lead capped off on a kill by Hughes. The Citadel (6-8, 0-2 SoCon) cut the margin to four at 12-8, but the Terriers sealed the match on a block by Byrd and Anna Gustafson.
Gustafson led the Terrier offense hitting .444 with nine kills on 18 total attacks committing just one error. Suddath also hit .400 with seven kills on 15 attacks with only one error, while chipping in 54 assists. Hughes reached double digits in kills with 16, while Byrd tallied the most kills tying a career high with 17. As a team, Wofford hit over .400 in the third set and over .350 in the final set.
Libero Brittany Thompson anchored the Terrier back line with 28 digs. Hughes capped off her second straight double-double with 23 digs. Carolyn Rivers, Sarah Palmer and Suddath also reached double digits in digs.
Jessica Maas and Jestila led the Bulldog offense tallying 16 kills apiece. Rachel Sanders also reached double digits in kills with 11. For The Citadel backline, four players reach double figures in digs with Jestila leading the way with 19.
The Terriers continue Southern Conference action Saturday as they travel to UNC Greensboro for a 2 p.m. start.