College of Charleston 3, Chattanooga 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The College of Charleston won a 3-1 match victory over the Chattanooga Mocs in SoCon volleyball action on Saturday afternoon.
The Cougars won 25-15, 18-25, 28-26 and 25-23. The win helped College of Charleston improve to 15-9 on the season and 6-2 in the SoCon. The Mocs fell to 4-17 and 2-5 in conference play.
Four different players reached double figures in kills for the Cougars as the team hit .303 on the match. Sophomore Kerstin Koehler recorded a career-high 10 kills while senior Sarah Havel led with 14 kills and six blocks. Elyse Chubb recorded 12 kills and Sloane White landed 11.
Sophomore Taeler Davis topped her previous-best output by making 52 assists. Redshirt-junior Emily Shelton made an impressive 31 digs, including several in late-game situations, just one from her career high.
Chattanooga was led by Kasey Talley's 16 kills, while Jennifer Kuroski and Christina Teter each made 14 kills. The Mocs hit .244 for the match and made 70 team digs.
College of Charleston never trailed in the first set, as the Cougars broke open a 10-8 set to go up 14-9 on the kill from Koehler. The Cougars continued energetic play throughout the set, while taking advantage of five Chattanooga attacking errors and four service errors to win 25-15. Koehler was the team leader in kills with five, while the entire team hit .483 with just one error. The Cougars recorded six more digs than the Mocs (18-12), and sided out on 15 of 16 opportunities, keeping the Mocs from making extended runs.
Chattanooga broke open an 11-11 contest with a 4-0 run and then a 3-0 run to go up 18-14. The Cougars rallied to make it 18-17 after a kill from Chubb and two kills from Davis. However, three straight Cougar errors followed by two aces sandwiching a kill from Chattanooga's Jennifer Kuroski gave the Mocs set point at 24-17, a six-point run. A kill from Chubb was not enough late as Chattanooga won the set, 25-18.
The Cougars and Mocs went through a ferocious battle in the third set, filled with big runs for both teams and dramatic points late. Chattanooga jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead, but the Cougars came right back to make it 10-8 on kills from Davis, Havel and Koehler. The teams traded points through the middle of the set before College of Charleston ran to a 22-19 lead off of consecutive blocks from Havel. But the Mocs came right back and tied it at 22 and the teams continued trading points past 25. A block error from Chattanooga's Bridget Camacho gave the Cougars a 27-26 advantage and a Lizzie Theesfeld service ace ended the set with a 28-26 Cougar victory.
The fourth set was back and forth as neither team could build a significant lead. With the set tied at 21, Chattanooga won the next two points to go up 23-21. However, a kill from Davis, a block from Havel and Koehler followed by kills from Havel gave the Cougars 25-23 set victory. The Cougars hit .333 in the third to win the match, 3-1.
Elon 3, Davidson 0
ELON, N.C. - The Elon University volleyball team won its third-straight home match on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 15, as the Phoenix topped the Davidson Wildcats in straight sets, 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-16), in its annual Dig Pink match inside Alumni Gym.
The Phoenix now sits at 14-8 overall and 3-4 in Southern Conference play with the win, while Davidson drops to 12-9 (2-6) with the setback.
Senior Caroline Lemke led all players with a match-high 14 kills to go along with five blocks, while senior Traci Stewart finished with eight kills and three blocks for the Phoenix, hitting .353 in the win.
Rookie Chanelle Smith just missed a double-double in the win, finishing with nine kills and nine digs for the maroon and gold.
Junior Ali Deatsch and senior Megan McMahon led the Elon defense with 18 and 16 digs, respectively, while McMahon also registered 24 assists.
Elon totaled eight blocks as a team in the victory to help limit the Wildcats to a .123 hitting percentage.
The Phoenix jumped out to an early four-point lead, 9-5, in the opening set after capitalizing on several errors by the Wildcats. Lemke pushed the Elon lead to six points later in the set after getting down a kill in front of the Davidson front line to make it a 14-8 game. Davidson managed to pull within three points, 17-14, later in the opening set after an Elon attack error, but that was as close as the Wildcats would come, as the Phoenix outscored Davidson 8-5 down the stretch to win the set, 25-19, and take a 1-0 advantage.
With the second set tied early at two-all, the Phoenix went on a five-point run with the help of two kills by Lemke and one by Kris Harris to take a 7-2 lead. Elon's advantage would continue by as much as six points, 16-10, but Davidson managed to claw back in and tie the set at 19-all. The Wildcats had to take a timeout after an attack error by Caroline Brown broke a 21-all tie and gave the Phoenix a one-point edge, 22-21. With the score knotted at 24-all later in the set, Elon took two-straight points to take a 2-0 match lead after a Davidson error and kill by Lemke.
After falling behind by three points, 7-4, in the third set, the Phoenix scored five of the next seven points to take a 9-8 lead following several Davidson errors and kills from Stewart and Lemke. The Phoenix never trailed from that point forward, going up by as many as six points after a Danielle Smith kill gave Elon a 19-13 lead and forced a Davidson timeout. Elon never looked back from that point forward, scoring six of the next nine points to complete the sweep with a 25-16 win.
Appalachian State 3, Furman 0
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State Volleyball solidified its place as the top team in the SoCon with a sweep of South Division leader Furman on Saturday, Oct. 15 at the Holmes Center.
The Mountaineers (14-7, 6-1) picked up their fourth-straight win and extended their home winning streak to six matches with a 25-18, 26-24, 25-19 win over the Paladins (12-6, 5-2).
ASU's victory tied conference foe College of Charleston for the most victories in SoCon play and has one less conference loss than the Cougars this season. The two teams will square off next Friday in Charleston.
Appalachian jumped out to 3-0 lead and never trailed in the first set. The Paladins would tie the set twice in the early going but the Apps would pull away, leading by as many as seven points (19-12), before closing things out with a kill from Kelly Rhein.
Furman would provide a stiffer test in the second set by taking a 4-1 lead before the Mountaineers came back to tie it at 5-5. The lead would change hands three times during the set but the Paladins would put the Apps on the ropes by snagging a 24-23 lead.
The Mountaineers rallied for three-straight points, two on attack errors by Furman's Amanda Komisarow, as Maggie Seeds picked up the final point to put ASU up two sets to none.
The third set was much the same as the first as the lead changed just two times. The Paladins took a 3-1 lead before the Apps erased the deficit with four-straight points to take a 5-3 lead.
Appalachian would never trail again and led by as many as seven two times in the late stages of the decisive set. Furman pulled within five points (24-19) late in the set, but Alison Blasingame's kill, her eighth of the match, gave ASU a 25-19 set victory.
The Mountaineers were led on offense by Seeds' match-high 11 kills. Rhein finished with nine kills and eight digs while fellow senior Anna Wagner also had nine kills and picked up nine digs.
Kasey Sauls had a match-highs in assists (21) and digs (15) while Lauren Brown had 14. Courtney Rhein had 12 digs on the evening.
As a team, ASU hit .205 and held Furman to a season-low .091 hitting percentage. The Paladins did have the edge in blocks, 11-7, thanks in part to Alexis Shaffer's match-high six block assists.
UNCG 3, Georgia Southern 2
GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNCG came out and easily took the first two sets before dropping the next two and having to rally in the fifth and final set to defeat Georgia Southern, 3-2 (25-17, 25-18, 15-25, 19-25, 16-14), on Saturday evening in Fleming Gymnasium.
With the two teams knotted at 2-all, they settled in for a fifth and deciding set. After trading points early, UNCG (12-12, 4-4 Southern Conference) took an 8-6 lead at the crossover. The Eagles responded with a 7-3 run to go ahead, 13-11. The Spartans then got a kill from Morgan Freeman and Karrian Chambers to tie the match at 13 before an Eagle attack error gave UNCG match point.
After a Spartan attack error tied the set at 14, UNCG had match point again after a Georgia Southern service error. This time, UNCG took advantage and got a huge block from Ari Lysacek and Vicky Harley to win the set 16-14.
Chambers led the Spartans with 15 kills and 12 digs for the lone double-double on the team. Freeman added 13 kills and a .407 hitting percentage, while Ariel Newman had 12 kills of her own. Chelsea Evans also chipped in nine kills and hit .500 for the match.
The Eagles (12-11, 4-3 SoCon) were paced by Bethany Sanford who had 19 kills and Parker Small who had 11 kills. Kate Van Dyke had a match-high 46 assists and tied for a match-high with 15 digs to record a double-double.
UNCG came out and started the match with a lot of energy as it raced out to a 13-9 lead midway through the first set. The Spartans led just 17-14 later in the set before ending the set on an 8-3 run to win the opening set, 25-17.
The Spartans carried that momentum into the second set as they took the early 6-3 lead. UNCG would stretch its lead out to as many as nine in the set at 22-13 on a kill by Chambers. A kill by Newman gave UNCG the set, 25-18, and a 2-0 lead heading into intermission.
The momentum quickly swung towards Georgia Southern after the break as they took an 8-4 lead. UNCG would rally back to pull within two at 13-11, but the Eagles closed out the set on a 12-4 run to easily win the set, 25-15.
The fourth set was much closer in the early going as the teams were tied at 12-all. Georgia Southern then went on a run to take a 17-13 lead before the Spartans closed it to two at 21-19 on a kill by Newman to force an Eagle timeout. After the timeout, Georgia Southern took advantage of two Spartan attack errors and back-to-back kills from Sanford gave the Eagles the set, 25-19.
Samford 3, The Citadel 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford volleyball team made it nine straight home wins Saturday with a convincing 3-0 victory over The Citadel. This is their sixth SoCon win of the season and their fifth conference match hitting at least .300.
Samford (19-3, 6-2 SoCon) hit .381 as a team and limited The Citadel (7-13, 0-7 SoCon) to a .202 clip. Samford doubled The Citadel's total blocks, 6-3, and held the edge in digs 34-26. Hutchinson led the attack, hitting .667 behind 13 kills and one error on 18 attacks. This brings her season total to .448. Conference assists leader Casey Garvey paced the offense with 36 assists, averaging 12 per set. Katie Murphy played tall up front, pairing up for three blocks and tacking on a solo block as well.
Neither team gained control to begin the match, with each side trading points during the early going. Up 11-10, Samford slowly started to extend the gap, pulling ahead 17-14 before powering ahead with a 6-0 run led by Alicia Roth on the service rotation. That put the Bulldogs up 22-14, and though they allowed The Citadel to tack on four more points, defensive specialist Chelsi Carter showed her offensive prowess with a kill to seal the 25-18 set win.
Three runs in the second set allowed Samford to maintain steady control towards a 25-16 win. A Citadel service ace tied the set at 4-4 and gave Samford possession. Hutchinson followed with three consecutive service aces off three different Citadel defenders, helping Samford pull ahead 7-4. Later, up 10-7, libero Alexis Bauer drove home four consecutive successful serves, including two Citadel attack errors and kills by Hutchinson and Elizabeth Neisler, to double-up The Citadel, 14-7. The Citadel fought back, narrowing the gap to five points down 15-20. Samford made a final push with a 5-1 run, including three serves in a row by Bauer to secure the win.
Multiple runs were the story again in the third and final set. Tied at 3-3, Samford jumped ahead thanks to a 4-0 rally led by Hutchinson serving. The first point of the rally was another service ace for the junior, giving her a season-best four service aces in the match. Up 7-5, Samford again rallied on a 6-2 run to pull ahead 13-7 and added four in a row soon after to pull ahead even further, 17-9. Samford never looked back, with Taylor Palmer, Erika Devaughn and Taylor Chao all contributing points down the stretch, concluded with a 3-0 service run by Chao, to make the final 25-15.