Elon 3, Chattanooga 0
ELON, N.C. - The Elon University volleyball team moved to 2-0 in Southern Conference play after sweeping Chattanooga, 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-22), at home in Jordan Gym on Sunday afternoon.
Elon is now 9-8 on the season and undefeated in two matches early into SoCon play. With the loss, Chattanooga falls to 4-13 (0-2 SoCon).
Senior Sarah Schermerhorn tallied 13 kills and hit .458 to lead all scorers with 16.5 points. The North Carolina native also recorded three blocks in the match. Junior Caroline Lemke and senior Lauren Copenhagen each recorded eight kills, followed by junior Traci Stewart who had seven.
As a team, Elon held Chattanooga to a .063 attacking percentage.
However, the Lady Mocs took the advantage in blocks with eight to the Phoenix five.
In the first set, Elon claimed a 4-2 lead and scored the next five points to force Chattanooga to call a timeout with the score 9-2. The Phoenix continued to score with six spurts of three or more points. The set ended, 25-12, with a Schermerhorn serve and a bad set from Chattanooga's Andrea Johnson.
The second set started off in the Lady Mocs favor as they jumped out to a 4-1 advantage, but two straight kills from Schermerhorn and another from Copenhagen tied the set at 4-all. The Phoenix maintained the lead the remainder of the set to win, 25-14.
In the final set, Elon jumped out to an 8-3 lead, but Chattanooga continued to fight hard to keep the match alive. A kill from the Mocs'
Christina Teter moved the score to 22-21 and forced the Phoenix to call a timeout. After the break, Elon scored three of the last four points and sealed the sweep with another kill from Schermerhorn.
Elon returns to action on Wednesday, Sept. 29, with a non-conference match against North Carolina A&T. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in Jordan Gym.
College of Charleston 3, N.C. A&T 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. - In a match that lasted only 59 minutes the College of Charleston volleyball team dominated the North Carolina A&T Aggies for a 3-0 victory (25-10, 25-14, 25-7) Sunday afternoon at Carolina First Arena.
Junior Sarah Havel led the Cougar (13-4, 2-0) attack with 11 kills and just one error for a .526 hitting efficiency. On defense five players recorded at least five digs led by juniors Hayley Harrell and Emily Shelton with nine each.
The Cougars rested many of their starters, giving a chance for three of their four freshmen to play. Newcomer Emily Neideffer terminated a career-high eight kills and fellow freshman Emily Shultz had six kills on 12 attempts. Neideffer and freshman Kallie McKown rocketed a combined 10 service aces in the contest.
The Cougar defense held the Aggies (1-14) to negative hitting percentages in each set and forced a total of 18 attack errors. For the match CofC hit .353 compared to -.114 of North Carolina A&T.
CofC will hit the road next weekend for a Friday match at Wofford followed by a Saturday showdown against Furman.
Western Carolina 3, Bethune-Cookman 0
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Senior Paloma Alvarez posted a match-high 16 kills to lead the Western Carolina volleyball team over Bethune-Cookman in three sets (25-16, 25-17, 28-26) Sunday afternoon at the Ramsey Center.
"We had a great balance with every single hitter this afternoon," said Western Carolina head coach Manuel Concepcion. "We had all of our hitters playing stable in the match and our setter helped with that stability."
Alvarez and Carrie Minouge paced the Catamount (5-11) offense with 16 and 11 kills, respectively. WCU posted a season-high .340 attacking percentage. Sophomore Amanda Chaparro added six kills while Rebecca Stoltz added five in the victory.
After seeing limited action through the team's first 10 matches, junior Emily Franklin has stared the last six contests as the Catamounts primary setter. The Lexington, Ky., native posted a match-high 38 assists against Bethune-Cookman (4-14) and pushed her average to 9.62 assists per set since starting six consecutive matches dating back to WCU's non-conference tilt with Presbyterian on Sept. 15.
WCU had an early two-point lead (10-8) against the Wildcats to open the first set before using a 7-3 run capped by a Minogue kill to take a 17-11 advantage. Bethune-Cookman battled back with a 5-2 run to get the Wildcats within three (19-16), but the Catamounts scored five consecutive points to win the first set, 25-16.
Set one only saw the Catamounts commit a total four errors to Bethune-Cookman's 14 miscues. Alvarez posted five kills in the first set with a .833 attacking percentage to lead the Catamounts.
The Catamounts led by eight (13-5) to open the second set. Bethune-Cookman only got within five points (16-11) from that point on as WCU went on to win the set by a score of 25-17. WCU registered a .273 attacking percentage in set two, led by Alvarez and Minogue who combined for nine kills. Leah Best, Minogue and Stoltz all posted two block assists in the set.
"We have been consistent in our last few matches in the net with our blocking and that has helped us play better overall," said Concepcion.
The Wildcats jumped to an early 13-7 lead over the Catamounts to open the third set before WCU mounted a comeback with an 8-1 run to take a one-point advantage (15-14). WCU and Bethune-Cookman were tied nine more times in the set with the final tie coming at 26 all. WCU won the final two points of the match on a Kat Agson attacking error and a kill by Minogue.
Set three saw the Catamounts post a .474 attacking percentage, led by Minogue who recorded a .778 attacking percentage with seven kills. WCU nearly doubled its total kills in the match - 24 kills in set one and two - in the third set as the Catamounts recorded 23 kills in set three.
Defensively, Morgan Cochran posted a match-high 21 digs from the back row while Chaparro added five. The Catamounts had eight total team blocks in the win, led by Best who registered five block assists.
"Her confidence has increased and that has made a huge difference," said Concepcion on the performance of Best. "She is taking great swings and has brought a great perspective to our game. When she is on the floor, we have three blockers in the middle and that has helped us make better stops at the net than we previously had earlier in the season."
WCU only had 12 attacking errors in the match to the Wildcats' 23 miscues. The Catamounts committed 11 errors between services and serve receives.
"We have worked on minimizing our errors and we have dramatically decreased our errors from the beginning of the year," said Concepcion. "Overall, we are playing much smarter."
The Catamounts return to action on Wednesday, Sept. 29 when they play host to rival Appalachian State at 7 p.m.
South Carolina 3, The Citadel 1
Columbia, S.C. - The Citadel's Kaona Mercer finished with a team-high 11 kills, in front of her hometown crowd, however South Carolina emerged with the four-set match victory by scores of 25-20, 25-18, 24-26 and 25-11. Mercer capped off her performance by finishing with a .286 attack percentage along with pair of blocks.
Teammates Jessica Maas (nine kills, 10 digs), Jessica Maxwell (six kills) and Cassie Uribe (six kills), joined Mercer with standout front row performances. The Dogs defense was paced by Rachael Farrell and Kathryn Johnson, who finished with 13 and 12 digs respectively. Freshman Erin Bucherl who dished out a team-high 18 assists added 11 digs on the back row. Following the weekend losses The Citadel now moves to 5-12 overall.
As for South Carolina, who is now 3-10 overall, the Gamecocks were led by the duo of Juliette Thevenin, 21 kills along with 10 digs, and Megan Laughlin who tallied 13 kills.
Four players topped double-digit digs anchored by Hannah Lawing (21), Taylor Bruns (14) and Jordan Bradosky (10). USC improves to 3-10 following the victory.
Thevenin dominated the fourth set with six kills and four services aces to help lead South Carolina to the 25-11 match clinching victory. The Gamecocks jumped out to an early 12-1 lead, which was quickly extended to 20-9, before scoring five of the final six points in the set.
The Bulldogs returned the favor in the third set when they rallied from an early 6-3 score to tie the game at 8-8. With Maas holding serve the Cadets tallied five straight points,
including two off service aces, to assume the 13-8 advantage. Trailing by three, 17-14, Bradosky's sparked the Gamecocks with three straight service aces and cut the lead to one point. After a series of ties, an attack error by Vain gave The Citadel a 22-21 lead.
The set reached a 24-24 tie before Mercer drove a pair of kills past the Gamecock defense to cap off the 26-24 victory.
The Citadel used momentum from the late stages of the first set and grabbed a 4-0 lead through the opening of the second set. South Carolina notched the next four straight points, following a timeout, to knot the score at 4-4. The two teams endured a pair ties before USC grabbed a slim 11-9 lead on an attack error. From there the Gamecocks held the Cadets to nine points over the remainder of the set for the 25-18 final.
Despite holding a nine point advantage on two occasions in the opening set, including an 18-9 lead, the Gamecocks were unable to hold off a late charge by the Cadets.
Farrell forced Teresa Stenlund into an attack error, following a Maas kill, which narrowed the deficit to 21-16. South Carolina scored the next three straight points before kills by Blaine McAllister and Maxwell again sliced the lead to five. Jestila slammed home a kill for the final Citadel point of the set before USC's Frankie Vain made for the 25-20 win.
The Citadel continues their four-match road stretch on Oct. 1 when they head to Southern Conference nemesis Furman for a 7 p.m. meeting.
For more information on Bulldog Volleyball, visit the official website of The Citadel Athletics at www.CitadelSports.com.