College of Charleston 3, Georgia Southern 2
CHARLESTON, S.C. - In a battle of two of the top teams in the Southern Conference the College of Charleston volleyball team overcame a fourth set defeat to win an epic battle in the fifth and secure a 3-2 victory over the Georgia Southern Eagles (24-26, 25-20, 25-21, 18-25, 19-17).
For the College of Charleston (15-5, 4-1) four different players had at least 12 kills, led by 16 from senior Whitney Russell. The defensive attack was equally balanced with four Cougars picking up double-digit kills, led by senior Paige Johnson with 18. Senior Cole Dawley came within two of her career high in assists with 57. Dawley added 10 digs for her seventh consecutive double-double.
The Cougars handed the Eagles their first loss in Southern Conference play this season.
After dropping a close set to open the contest, the Cougars evened the score in the second set led by Russell and junior Sarah Havel's four kills apiece. CofC led by as many as seven points at 21-14 and closed the set with a 25-20 victory.
With a victory in set number three the Cougars were thinking about ending the match in four sets, but the Eagles (12-7, 3-1) did not go down without a fight. The Eagles scored 11 of the first 14 points to build what seemed like an insurmountable 11-3 lead. Although the Cougars came within four points at 14-18, Georgia Southern was determined the take the match to five sets and pulled away with a 25-18 victory.
The fifth set would prove to be the most competitive of the match, but it didn't start out that way. The Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but CofC stormed back to take a 5-3 advantage. In a set that featured 13 ties Kepner said he was proud of his team for showing a lot of fight.
The Cougars used a .333 hitting percentage led by six Russell kills to win the set and the match.
Prior to the match Dawley and Johnson were recognized for career milestones. Dawley recently recorded her 3,000th career assists and Johnson her 1,000th dig.
The Cougars continue play this weekend with a 2p.m. match against Davidson at Carolina First Arena. Kepner said his team will have to come back quickly. Georgia Southern continues play in Charleston, S.C., facing The Citadel on Saturday, Oct. 9.
Elon 3, UNCG 1
ELON, N.C. - After dropping its first set of the night, the Elon University volleyball team stormed back to upend the UNC Greensboro Spartans, 3-1 (17-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-22), at home in Jordan Gym on Friday night.
The win marks the first time in two years that Elon (12-9, 4-1 SoCon) has defeated UNCG (15-5, 3-2 SoCon).
Seniors Sarah Schermerhorn and Lauren Copenhagen led the attack for Elon with 14 kills each. Junior Caroline Lemke and sophomore Traci Stewart also came up big for the Phoenix with 11 kills apiece. Junior Megan McMahon recorded 42 assists, while Copenhagen earned two of the four total service aces on the night.
Sophomore Ali Deatsch led the Phoenix on the defensive side of the ball with 19 digs. McMahon and junior Lizzie West also defended the ball with 14 and 11 digs, respectively. Lemke also recorded four total blocks, two solo and two assisted. The Phoenix defense kept the Spartans from earning any service aces on the night.
In the first set, the match remained close at a six-all tie before UNCG began to pull away and took the win, 25-17. The second set went back and forth to keep the set tied, 10-all, but back-to-back kills from Stewart and Schermerhorn gave Elon a 12-10 edge. A six-point run, capped by a kill from Lemke, gave the Phoenix a 19-13 advantage. Elon would eventually win the set, 25-17, to knot the match at 1-1.
The third set began in the Spartans favor but the Phoenix never let UNCG pull more than four points ahead. Facing a four-point deficit late, Elon went on a spectacular seven-point run, which included two kills from Copenhagen and one from McMahon, to take a 21-18 lead. UNCG came back to tie the game at 22-all and once again at 24-all, but consecutive kills by Lemke and Schermerhorn allowed Elon to take the third set, 26-24.
Elon jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the fourth set after capitalizing on several UNCG errors. The Phoenix maintained its six-point lead until the Spartans pulled within two points at 17-15. Despite UNCG's attempt to send match into a deciding fifth set, Elon remained focused and scored three of the last four points to take the set, 25-22, and the 3-1 match victory.
Elon will return to action tomorrow night against Furman for a 6 p.m. match in Jordan Gym.
Samford 3, Western Carolina 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford volleyball team roared to its second Southern Conference win Friday night in a dominating 3-0 sweep of Western Carolina at the Pete Hanna Center. The Catamounts only scored a collective 41 points as Samford won in straight sets of 25-13, 25-11 and 25-17.
The win was Samford's eighth straight win over the Catamounts and the Bulldogs now lead the series, 8-4. Samford has won 18 of the 20 sets played in the series between the two teams.
Samford (8-11, 2-3 SoCon) never averaged below .200 as a team in Friday night's match, hitting a match-high of .462 in the second set. The Bulldogs also held Western Carolina (6-14, 1-4 SoCon) to a negative hitting percentage in each set and out-blocked the Catamounts, 6-2.
The Bulldogs were led once again by Elizabeth Neisler and Katie Murphy. Neisler posted a team-high 16 kills and hit .379 while also grabbing a solo block. Murphy followed with nine kills and a team-high .571 hitting percentage while also tallying two solo blocks and two block assists. Hillary Fountain dished out 40 assists and nine digs and also added two kills, two aces and two block assists. Alexis Bauer led the back row with 13 digs.
Lauren Hutchinson tallied six kills, one ace and hit .250 while Samantha Bland posted five kills, eight digs, one assist and hit .308. Allie Bettinger and Shelby Brandon each posted three kills. Bettinger also had a solo block and a dig while Brandon tallied two digs. Alicia Roth had four digs, two aces and an assist while Casey Garvey added seven digs, an ace and an assist.
Western Carolina was led by Carrie Minogue and Rebecca Stoltz who each posted four digs. Kelci Randazzo tallied 13 assists while Morgan Cochran dished out a team high nine digs.
Fountain came out of the gate in the first set with a kill to get Samford on the board right away. Western Carolina answered back and after six ties in the score, the Bulldogs finally took a four-point lead on a block by Fountain, a kill by Murphy and two Catamount errors. With Samford leading 12-8, WCU called a timeout. However, Samford roared back with five straight points, including two blocks by Murphy, to go ahead by nine and force WCU to call another timeout. Bland knocked down a kill out of the break to extend the Samford lead to 10 and the Bulldogs would go on a 7-5 run to win set one, 25-13.
Back-to-back kills by Neisler and a kill by Fountain gave Samford a quick 3-0 lead in set two. Although the Catamounts answered back with a kill of their own, Samford continued to press and soon had a 10-4 lead with the help of several kills by Neisler and Brandon and an ace from Hutchinson. After a Catamount timeout, WCU fought to get within five points but Samford refused to let them get any closer and extended the lead to 10, forcing three straight Catamount errors. With Samford leading 20-10, WCU took another timeout but the Catamounts would only score one more point as Samford went on to win set two, 25-11, on a 6-1 run.
The beginning of the third set was the closest play of the match. Samford earned the first point of the set on a Catamount error but WCU evened the score with a kill. Samford then moved ahead by two with kills by Neisler and Hutchinson but WCU came back to tie the score again. The Bulldogs scored four straight on kills by Neisler, Hutchinson and Bettinger and a Catamount error but WCU fought back to get within one.
Samford finally took control of the set and pushed its lead out to five points on three straight kills by Neisler followed by a kill by Hutchinson. WCU called a timeout and came back to get within one point again, but Samford pulled back ahead by six before the Catamounts called their final timeout of the match. A Samford error out of the break cut the lead to five but Samford would go on to win the final set, 25-17, after four straight WCU errors.
Samford will close out the weekend Saturday night when it hosts Appalachian State. Match play is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Pete Hanna Center. The Catamounts return to action tomorrow (Oct. 9) at 7 p.m. as they travel to SoCon foe Chattanooga.