UNC Greensboro 3, North Carolina A&T 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Freshman Olivia Humphries had a team-high nine kills as UNC Greensboro swept cross-town rival North Carolina A&T, 3-0, on Wednesday evening in the Corbett Sports Center. The set scores were 25-18, 25-22 and 25-9.
The Spartans improved to 7-9 on the season, while the Aggies fell to 1-17 this year.
"I thought tonight was a difficult match and we really fought hard," said head coach Patrick Nicholas. "We tried a few different things offensively with the players that were available and it felt good to get a win. Give credit to A&T, they competed hard in all three sets and their record doesn't indicate the true strength of their program. Now we have to look forward to a pair of big conference matches this weekend at home and we hope to have a loud and rowdy crowd to support us."
In addition to Humphries' nine kills, Alissa Beaudway added six kills on the evening. Luciana Shafer had a match-high 14 digs and Kimiko Naito also had 14 assists to lead the Spartans.
The Aggies were led offensively by Janae Mitchell who had a match-high 11 kills and Amber Inman had 29 assists.
After trading points early in the first set, the Spartans held just a 12-10 lead midway through the first set before winning seven of the next eight points to extend its lead to 19-10. UNCG went on to win the set, 25-18, on a service error by the Aggies.
The Aggies trailed early in the second set, but they fought back to take a 10-7 lead over UNCG. In fact, A&T led for most of the set and held a 22-19 lead late in the set. A kill by Beaudway and a pair of kills from Humphries held lead the Spartan charge as they won the final six points to take the set, 25-22.
The break between the second and third sets didn't slow the Spartans down as they carried their momentum into the third set. UNCG jumped out to an impressive 11-4 lead to start the set, but the Aggies fought back within 13-8. That was as close as A&T would get in the set as the Spartans went on a 12-1 run to close the match.
The Spartans return home this weekend as they host Appalachian State in their SoCon home opener on Saturday at 5 p.m. in Fleming Gymnasium.
Appalachian State 3, Western Carolina 0
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University volleyball came out on fire and never looked back as the Mountaineers handily defeated their SoCon foe Western Carolina 3-0 Wednesday evening in the Holmes Center. With the win Appalachian moves its winning streak to three matches and remains a spotless 2-0 in conference play, while improving to 6-10 on the season. The Catamounts drop to 3-13 overall and 0-2 in the SoCon.
WCU posted solid play early on in first set action, taking the five point nod at the 7-2 mark, as Appalachian's only two points came off of Catamount errors. That would be the last time ASU was behind by as many as five points, as the Black and Gold crawled back to cut the deficit to just two points at the 12-10 mark, thanks in part to a kill and service ace by Maja Jechorek and a block assist by Caroline Sedon and Kelly Rhein.
The match was knotted up for the first and only time at the 12 all mark, before ASU took control of the match. Three aces in a row by Maggie Seeds gave the Mountaineers a 19-14 advantage, and kills by Sedon and Kasey Sauls pushed the Apps to the impressive 25-17 first set victory.
Appalachian's dominance continued in the second set, with the Apps notching the 6-3 lead early on. The Black and Gold's offensive assault would not let up, with Kelly Rhein pacing the attack to put ASU ahead 15-9. Western Carolina continued to battle, cutting their deficit to just five points, but it would not be enough as a Sedon and Rhien put the set away for ASU, tallying two late kills to give the squad a 25-18 secon set win, and commanding 2-0 match advantage.
The Catamounts played ASU tough in the third and what would be final set, but Appalachian proved to be too much, as the score was tied just once at the 10 all mark before the Mountaineers took control. Offense came from all over for the Black and Gold, with Kelly Rhein, Becca Norris, Seeds and Sedon chipping in to put the Apps ahead 20-16.
Two more kills by Rhein and a final one by Norris earned Appalachian the 25-20 third set win and 3-0 match win.
Offensively, it was all sophomore Kelly Rhein who totaled a match-high 17 kills in the contest, while Sauls recorded a match-high 32 assists.
ASU continues with its ever-grueling SoCon schedule as the Mountaineers head to the Triad to take on Elon Friday October 2 at 7 p.m. and then play UNC Greensboro, Saturday October 3 at 5:30 p.m.
College of Charleston 3, The Citadel 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Junior setter Cole Dawley (Charleston, S.C.) dished out a match-high 25 assists to go along with eight kills while senior outside hitter Emily Sawin (New Lenox, Ill.) finished with nine kills and nine digs as the College of Charleston (6-8, 2-0) downed The Citadel (3-14, 0-2) 3-0 Wednesday evening in a Southern Conference match in the Carolina First Arena. CofC claimed the match by scores of 25-20, 25-12 and 25-14 in front of a crowd of 1,362
In Game 1, the two teams battled through ten ties and four lead changes before deadlocking at 15-15. From there, the Cougars used a 5-0 run fueled by three kills from Sawin to take a 21-16 advantage. They would then hold the Bulldogs at bay as they went on to a 25-20 decision and took a 1-0 lead in the match.
Following a challenging first set, the College of Charleston left little to doubt in the second frame as they raced out to a commanding 14-6 lead behind seven errors by The Citadel and four CofC kills. Eight more kills down the stretch would help the Cougars maintain a double-digit lead as they coasted to a 25-12 victory to take a two set lead.
CofC opened the third set by taking a 6-3 lead before the Bulldogs battled back to within 6-5. That would be as close as they would get, however, as the Cougars quickly expanded their lead to 13-6 as a result of four more kills. The Citadel eventually narrowed the gap to 17-11 before the College of Charleston put the set, and the match, out of reach with an 8-3 run to close out a 25-14 victory. The last four points were punctuated by kills from the Cougars front line.
Freshman setter Alexa Dahlstrom led the Bulldogs with a team-high tying four kills and a team-best 15 assists while freshman middle blocker Jessica Maxwell added four kills of her own. Defensively, freshman outside hitter Rachael Farrell and junior outside hitter Tatum Jestila led the way with nine and eight digs, respectively.
For the College of Charleston, Cole Dawley recorded 25 assists, eight kills and five digs while Emily Sawin finished just shy of her third straight double-double with nine kills and nine digs. Sawin was one of five Cougars who finished with at least seven kills.
Included on that list was sophomore middle blocker Elyse Chubb (Peachtree City, Ga.) with eight kills and a match-high six blocks and senior middle blocker Jennifer Darty (Orlando, Fla.) and sophomore middle blocker Sarah Havel (Carmel, Ind.), each of whom finished with seven kills. On defense, junior libero Paige Johnson (Sleepy Hollow, Ill.) led the way with a match-high 19 digs, one shy of her career-high of 20 set against Evansville earlier this year.
The Cougars continue their Southern Conference slate with a pair of matches this weekend. On Saturday, October 3, CofC will take on Wofford (14-4, 1-1) before facing defending tournament champion Furman (9-3, 2-0) on Sunday, October 4. First serve for both matches is set 2 p.m. in Carolina First Arena.
NOTES
The College of Charleston has never lost to The Citadel as they run their record to 22-0 against the Bulldogs ... they have never dropped a set to their cross-town rival, winning all 64 in the series history ... the crowd of 1,362 is the third largest ever to see a College of Charleston volleyball match ... On November 5, 2008, the final match in John Kresse Arena, the Cougars played in front of their largest crowd at 1,547.
Samford 3, Chattanooga 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University volleyball team notched its 20th consecutive win in the Pete Hanna Center Wednesday night as it swept Southern Conference rival Chattanooga in a hard-fought three-set match. With the victory, the Bulldogs improve to 9-7, 3-0 SoCon while the Lady Mocs fall to 9-6, 1-2 SoCon.
Samford dominated the first set, winning by 11 points but as expected, Chattanooga put up a fight in the next two sets, forcing the Bulldogs into extra points. However, the Bulldogs rose to the occasion and were determined to win, pulling out the victory in the final plays of the match.
"We knew going in that this was going to be a match about resiliency and I am very proud of our girls," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "Our middle blockers, Sheriden Stangohr and Rachel Gadberry, were very good and will always be the catalyst to our offense. We were in system all night, and anchored by two freshmen and one junior, our serve-receive passing was stellar."
Samford was led again by senior Stangohr and freshman Allie Bettinger. Stangohr matched a season-high 15 kills while hitting a season-high .565 and posting four block assists. Bettinger posted her fifth double-double of the season and her third in a row, grabbing 13 kills and 10 digs. She also had one assist, one ace and one block assist.
Hillary Fountain led the Bulldogs in assists, dishing out 40 while serving up a season-high four aces and posting two kills and one block assist. Alexis Bauer and Samantha Bland led the back row in digs with 12 and nine, respectively. Bland also added one kill and one ace while Bauer notched three assists.
Gadberry hit .357, knocking down seven kills on 14 attempts with only two errors, while also grabbing two block assists. Elizabeth Neisler posted eight kills along with two digs and one block assist while Shelby Brandon added three kills and three block assists. Casey Garvey had one assist, one ace and three digs.
Chattanooga (9-6, 1-2 SoCon) was led by Courtney Barnes who hit a match-high .714, knocking down 10 kills on 14 attempts with no errors. Bailee Chastain dished out 23 assists while Paula Passmore led the back row with 16 digs. Ellie Kuhn had a team-high four block assists.
Samford will be back in action Sunday as the Bulldogs close out their four-match home stand against Davidson. Match play begins at 2 p.m.
Although Chattanooga got on the board first in set one on a Samford attack error, the Bulldogs rallied back with four straight points due to back-to-back to kills by Neisler and Fountain, a UTC error and a service ace by Garvey. Samford then went on a 5-3 run to take a five-point lead and force Chattanooga to take a timeout. However, Samford continued to pile on the points as the Bulldogs pushed their lead out to 11, going on 16-9 run to win the first set, 25-14.
Samford took the early 2-0 lead in set two on an error by Chattanooga and a block by Neisler and Stangohr, but the Lady Mocs answered back and tied the score with a kill and a Samford error and then took over the lead on kill and an ace. The Bulldogs answered back and tied the score twice more before taking a four-point lead, causing the Lady Mocs to call a timeout.
Samford then pushed its lead to five on a kill by Gadberry before Chattanooga climbed back within one with a 4-1 run. Samford went ahead again by three but the Lady Mocs caught up again and tied the score a 16, 17 and then again at 21.
Samford called a timeout and answered back out of the break with a kill by Brandon, but Chattanooga would answer back and tie the score at 23 and 24, before the Bulldogs went ahead again 25-24. After another Lady Moc timeout, the score was tied again at 25 and 26, but the Bulldogs locked it up with a kill by Gadberry and an ace by Fountain to win the second set, 28-26.
Chattanooga was first to score in set three on a block by Kuhn and Stephanie Harville, but Samford answered back with a kill by Stangohr to tie it up. The Lady Mocs then took a three-point lead before Samford caught up and tied the score at five, only to fight through ten more ties before finally gaining its first lead of the set. Samford trailed by as much as two points the whole set before final taking the lead when it counted on the last two points. With the score tied at 24, Stangohr knocked down back-to-back kills, each following a Chattanooga timeout, to win the set, 26-24, and match for the Bulldogs.