Wofford 3, Savannah State 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Wofford volleyball team opened the 2009 home season with a 3-0 win over Savannah State on Wednesday.
The Terriers dominated the first set, opening with a 7-2 run and forcing the Tigers to call a timeout. The break didn't stop Wofford, however, who score five straight points out of the timeout to take a commanding 12-2 lead. A ball handling error by the Terriers gave the serve to Savannah State, but a Catelyn Amende kill brought the ball back to the Terrier side.
The Wofford offense controlled the remainder of the first set, only allowing the Tigers six more points to take the set 25-8. The team combined for its best hitting percentage of the year, a .607 mark, with 18 total kills and only one error. Senior Shanna Hughes and freshman Rachel Woodlee led the team in the first set with 5 kills apiece.
The second set was much of the same story, as the Terriers again took a commanding 11-2 lead before a kill from Savannah State's Chikia Jones stopped the run. Stacy Byrd responded with a kill of her own, and the Terriers would allow only six more points for the Tigers en route to a 25-8 victory in set two.
Savannah State earned the first point of the third set, taking their only lead of the match at 1-0. The Terriers quickly responded and used strong serving to finish the match by a score of 25-11 in the third set. Junior Stacy Byrd racked up five kills in the third set to lead the Terriers.
Sophomore Shatice White led Savannah State with five kills and seven digs, while freshman Jones added four kills.
Wofford was led by Byrd's 12 kills. The junior from Jacksonville, Fla. set a new career high with a .588 hitting percentage. Junior Catelyn Amende also had a career night, notching nine kills and zero errors to lead the team with a .818 attack percentage. Setter Joanna Suddath added 39 assists, while freshman Reagan Styles led the team with 9 digs.
With the win, the Terriers improve to 3-2 on the season. Wofford will hit the road on Friday to take part in the Lady Rams Invitational, where they will face host Winston-Salem State, Savannah State, East Carolina and UNC-Asheville.
Elon 3, High Point 0
HIGH POINT, N.C. - Caroline Lemke, who hit 80 percent through the opening set-and-a-half and tied her career-record with six blocks, led the Phoenix to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-22) win over the reigning Big South Co-Champion High Point Panthers. The win moves Elon to a perfect 9-0 record, while the Panthers drop to 6-4 on the season. The match marks the second straight win over a Big South co-champion, as the Phoenix dispatched Liberty last weekend. The win also marks Elon's first win on the Panthers' home court since the 2003 season.
"No one on this team has ever defeated High Point on its home court, so this was a good win for us," head coach Mary Tendler said. "Caroline (Lemke) was able to see the court very well and avoid hitting errors. (Emily) Regan made very good decisions and was able to set any ball that she wanted to and really gave us a chance in this match."
Lemke finished with a team-leading 11 kills and an attack percentage of .579. Traci Stewart earned the team's second-highest kill total with 10. It marks the fourth straight match that Stewart has recorded double-digit kills. Lauren Copenhagen recorded eight kills, with Sarah Schermerhorn adding seven. Three Phoenix players in Ali Deatsch, Emily Regan and Lizzie West tallied service aces. Regan earned 38 assists.
Lemke's six total blocks led Elon's defensive attack that held High Point to a .143 hitting percentage. The Phoenix has yet to have an opponent hit over .200 as a team. Stewart finished with four total blocks, while Schermerhorn, Copenhagen and Regan added one block each. Deatsch paced the defense with 13 digs.
High Point's Anna Lott led the Panthers with 11 kills, with Megan Smith adding eight in the effort. Megan Kaminskas totaled six kills and led the team with a .545 attack percentage. Holly Fong guided the Panther offense with 29 assists.
Defensively, Lott and Molly Barlow were the only Panthers to record a block. Barlow finished the match with a team-leading 13 digs. Julie Hershkowitz also tallied 11 digs for High Point.
The Phoenix jumped out to a 6-3 lead on kills by Copenhagen and Schermerhorn, before High Point brought the set within two at 7-5 on an Elon attack error. With the Phoenix clinging to a 12-6 lead, the Panthers fought back to within four at 12-8 on a kill by Lott. The teams traded points on five straight possessions until Lott broke the streak with a kill that made it a one-point set at 17-16. An attack error and a block by Lemke and Copenhagen put the Phoenix up 19-16 and forced High Point to call its first timeout of the set. Following the timeout, the Panthers scored three straight points to tie the set at 19. A block by Lemke and Stewart broke the tie and sparked a 6-3 run by the Phoenix that included two kills by Lemke to seal the set 25-21.
A Lemke and Stewart block opened the second set as Elon hurried to an 8-3 lead. A kill by High Point's Courtney Johnk sparked a four-point run that made it an 11-8 set and forced Elon to use its first timeout of the match. Coming out of the break, Lemke broke the High Point streak with a kill and helped Elon to an 8-1 run to give the Phoenix a 17-9 lead. Elon captured the second set 25-14 after Barrow and Stewart recorded back-to-back kills.
Set three saw the Phoenix open to a 7-3 lead before two straight Panther points made it a 7-5 set. High Point rallied to within one at 12-11 off consecutive kills by Lott. Elon regained a three-point lead off of kills by Stewart and Copenhagen at 15-12. After trailing by five at 22-17, High Point answered by scoring five of the next seven points to make it a 24-22 match and forced the Phoenix to burn a timeout. A Stewart kill clinched the match on the next play to keep Elon's unblemished season in tact.
Elon will return to the court September 15 when it hosts Radford in a 7 p.m. match in Alumni Gym. Full coverage of the match, including live stats and video streaming, will be available at www.elonphoenix.com.
Marshall 3, UNC Greensboro 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNC Greensboro never recovered after dropping the first game as Marshall stayed undefeated by defeating the Spartans, 3-0, on Wednesday evening in Fleming Gymnasium. The game scores were, 25-18, 25-18 and 25-19.
The Spartans fell to an even 4-4 on the season, while the Thundering Herd moved to 9-0 to continue its record-breaking start.
"I thought we played real well for the first 15 minutes, but we began to play less as a team after that and it showed in the score," said head coach Patrick Nicholas. "I was disappointed with our effort tonight because I felt as though this would be a highly competitive match. We need to get back to work in practice on all facets of the game in order to prepare not only for UCF on Friday, but the rest of the season as well."
Senior Emily Lindborg led the Spartans offensively with eight kills and Catherine Hanners and Caley Redden each added six kills. Hanners led UNCG with 17 digs, while Ari Lysacek had 25 assists in the match.
The two teams traded points early in the first game before Redden delivered back-to-back-to-back aces to give the Spartans a 14-13 lead. The Thundering Herd responding by taking nine of the next 10 points on their way to winning the game, 25-18.
The Spartans fell behind 11-6 early in the match on an attack error and were never able to recover. After trailing 18-11, UNCG pulled within 20-15, but it wasn't enough as Marshall took the second game, 25-18.
The third set was much of the same as UNCG fell behind early, 10-3. The Spartans rallied once again near the end of the game, but fell 25-19 to seal the win for the Thundering Herd.
The Spartans return to the court on Friday evening as they host UCF in Fleming Gymnasium at 7 p.m.