Wofford 3, Savannah State 0
SAVANNAH, Ga. - All twelve of Wofford's women's volleyball team members recorded a point as the Terriers extended their winning streak to four matches with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-9, 25-7) win over Savannah State Wednesday.
The Terriers had a team hitting percentage of .443 with 41 kills on 79 attempts with only six errors in the three set match.
Melissa Kearse paced Wofford with eight kills on 14 attempts with one error for a .500 hitting percentage. Arden Anderson and Catelyn Amende followed with six kills apiece. Anderson had a .857 hitting percentage and Amende tallied a .600 hitting percentage. Tara Gough and Bekah Dorsey handed out 18 and 15 assists respectively. Dorsey also led the Terriers with five service aces. Reagan Styles and Amanda Liguori had a team-high eight digs.
In the first set, the match stayed close until the Terriers pushed a 9-7 lead to 14-7. The run started with a Anderson kill. After Savannah State snapped the run with two points, Wofford took off on a nine-point run. Kearse had three kills during the that pushed the score to 23-9. Wofford finished the first set with a 25-11 win.
Set two started with Wofford sprinting out to a 17-5 lead. Styles served nine consecutive times during the stretch. Wofford closed out the second set 25-9.
Wofford took the third and final set, 25-7. Rachel Woodlee had four kills on six attempts for the Terriers as they closed out the match.
The Terriers pushed the overall series with the Tigers to 8-0, while head coach Corey Helle moved within one win of his 100th career win.
Helle will seek the coaching milestone over the weekend as the Terriers take part in the Clarion Invitational at Stetson University. Wofford will play Florida Atlantic Saturday at 1 p.m. and Wyoming at 5 p.m.
UNCG 3, North Carolina Central 0
DURHAM, N.C. - UNCG got at least five kills from six separate players and had a .303 hitting percentage as a team as the Spartans swept North Carolina Central, 3-0, in volleyball action on Wednesday evening in McDougald Gym.
The Spartans took the first set, 25-17, before winning the final two sets 25-16 and 25-11.
UNCG moved to 5-0 on the season, while the Eagles fell to 1-5.
"I thought tonight was a good win and a good challenge in a midweek match," said coach Patrick Nicholas. "North Carolina Central is a big team with a big block so it was nice for our hitters to learn how to attack that. We really worked on executing our offense and having our back row players defend against their big hitters."
Olivia Humphries led the Spartan attack as she recorded a match-high eight kills on the evening, while Billi Baker and Ariel Newman each added seven kills. Caley Redden and Karrian Chambers also contributed six kills each and Kayren Finney added five. Ari Lysacek added a match-high assists and Kellie Orewiler had a match-high 12 digs.
The Spartans got the match started off on the right foot as they never trailed in the first set. UNCG led just 9-7 though after an attack error, but took control of the set by going on an 8-2 run, capped off by a block by Newman and Finney, to jump ahead, 17-9. The Spartans went on to claim the first set, 25-17, on a block by Finney and Baker.
The second set was the closest between the two teams as they had seven ties and three lead changes. The Spartans found themselves trailing 9-7 in the early going, but UNCG rattled off nine of the next 10 points to take a 16-10 advantage. The Eagles pulled within three at 16-13 on a UNCG attack error before the Spartans won the next five points en route to winning the set, 25-16.
UNCG took command of the third set from the beginning as it hopped out to a 13-3 lead. A service ace from Chambers capped off the match as the Spartans took the set, 25-11.
The Spartans return to the court this weekend as they travel to Wilmington, N.C. to compete in the UNCW Courtyard by Marriott Tournament. UNCG will begin competition on Friday against South Carolina State at 4:30 p.m.
Samford 3, Troy 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team defeated in-state rival Troy University, 3-1, Wednesday night in a heated match in Samford's Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs mounted a comeback after falling in the first set (25-18) and won three straight sets (25-18, 25-12, 25-22) to take the match win.
"We were a little bit anxious in the first set of a home opener but settled down and played well in sets two and three," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "We need to realize when we have a team beat and keep our foot on the gas pedal in set four. We will do better with maturity."
The Bulldogs (3-1) out-blocked the Trojans (1-3), 10 to four and posted an overall team hitting percentage of .250, hitting a match high of .357 in set three.
Red-shirt freshman Lyndsey Holt led the Bulldogs against the Trojans. She recorded her first career double-double with a career-high 11 kills and 13 digs while hitting .259 and also serving up two aces. Sophomore Allie Bettinger posted nine kills and hit .320, committing only one error on the night. She also tallied six digs, three block assists and two aces.
"I was happy with Holt and Allie tonight," Schroeder said. "I think Troy planned to stop our middle blockers and right sides, so they stepped up and put balls away when we needed them to."
Sophomore Lauren Hutchinson posted a team-high .429 hitting percentage, knocking down 11 kills. She also led the team in blocks, along with freshman Katie Murphy, with five blocks. She posted four block assists and one solo block. She also added four digs. Murphy posted nine kills and two digs along with three block assists and two solo blocks.
Sophomore Elizabeth Neisler led the Bulldogs in kills, knocking down 12 while adding two digs and three block assists. Freshman Taylor Palmer added two kills and one block assist while Samantha Bland had one kill and four digs.
Senior Hillary Fountain and sophomore Casey Garvey combined for 45 of Samford's 49 assists on the night. Fountain dished out 28 while also adding a kill and nine digs. Garvey tallied 17 assists while also posting seven digs. Sophomore Alexis Bauer tied Holt with a team-high 13 digs and also added four assists and one ace.
Troy was led by Natasha Kolunija who posted 10 kills followed by Devin Von Pingel with nine. Megan Henderson dished out 34 assists for the Trojans while Lizzie Clough led in digs with 14 followed by Alexandra Alexander and Courtney Cohen with 13 each.
Samford is back in action at home this weekend as it hosts its annual Samford Invitational. The two-day tournament, sponsored by McDonald's and Hampton Inn, includes North Texas, Northwestern State, Tennessee Tech and Syracuse. The Bulldogs get action underway Friday at noon when they take on Northwestern State. Samford will then play again Friday night at 7 p.m. in a meeting with North Texas. Samford's slate Saturday begins at 3 p.m. with Tennessee Tech and will end with a feature match against Syracuse at 7 p.m.