Davidson 3, Chattanooga 0

DAVIDSON, N.C. - The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team fell to Davidson in straight sets on Saturday afternoon at Belk Arena, 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-21). Junior middle blocker Christina Teter notched a match-high 12 kills during the contests.

Running the Mocs offense was sophomore setter Bridget Camacho  with 31 assists. She additionally added two aces from the service line, while sophomores Tess Kosycarz and Jennifer Kuroski each had one. 

Registering seven kills during the afternoon was sophomore middle blocker Aneisha Christie. Junior Heather Parman and Kuroski each added six kills for the Mocs.

Defensively, Chattanooga was paced by freshman libero Melissa Green, who registered 10 digs. Camacho contributed six digs, while Parman had five and junior Meagan Ernd added four.

Leading the offense and defense for Davidson was Caroline Brwon with 11 kills and a match-high 13 digs. Setter Ariel Ley recorded a match-high with 36 assists, while Christine Perzinski tallied 10 kills.

The Mocs started out strong as they used an 8-1 run to take an 11-5 advantage in the first set. Davidson rode a 12-point rally to take command of the frame 17-11 and went on to take the set 25-16.

In the second set, the teams battled back and forth through the first 30 points with the frame knotted up at 15-all. The Wildcats used a 10-4 run to close out the set, 25-19, and take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.

Coming out of the intermission with momentum was Davidson, who took an early 6-1 lead before the Mocs battled back to three, 8-5, on a kill by Kuroski. That was as close the Mocs would get until late in the set at 24-21 before Madison Benedict ended the match with a kill. Chattanooga used three kills from Teter and another by Parman to come within three towards the end of the set.

 

College of Charleston 3, Western Carolina 1

CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston captured a 3-1 match decision over Western Carolina in home volleyball action on Saturday night.

College of Charleston (17-9, 8-2) split the first two sets with Western Carolina (10-16, 5-5), 25-18 and 22-25, before the Cougars won the final two, each by a score of 25-22.

The match featured a large number of long rallies as each team battled for every point. College of Charleston finished with 104 total digs, the most in any one match in head coach Jason Kepner’s tenure with the Cougars.

The Cougars set a number of team and personal records as senior Elyse Chubb led the way offensively with a career-high 17 kills, while hitting .342. Freshman Lizzie Theesfeld also set a new career high with 15 kills on 50 attempts to go with 11 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Classmate Sloane White made 14 kills and tallied a new career high with 13 digs. Sophomore Taeler Davis registered her fourth double-double by tallying a career-best 55 assists and 11 digs. Finally, redshirt-junior Emily Shelton tied her career high by making 32 digs. 

Four players for Western Carolina hit double-digits in kills as Jordan Timmerman, Caitlin Piechota and Abbey Scroggins all made 11 kills. Morgan Cochran made 19 digs and Timmerman added 18.

The Cougars broke open a 6-6 game in the first set with eight straight points, including three kills from Chubb. However, the Catamounts mounted a rally of their own, scoring six of the next seven points after being down 17-10, to make it 18-16. A kill from White ended the run and a block from Theesfeld and Chubb got the Cougars to 20 first. Charleston was able to hold on and win the first set, 25-18.

Western Carolina led the entire second set after a 1-1 tie as the Catamounts took advantage of 14 total Cougar errors. College of Charleston hit just .174, while Scroggins led the way for WCU with five kills. The Cougars mounted a furious rally after going down 18-10 to cut the lead to 21-19, but Western pulled out the set victory 25-22.

College of Charleston held a three- or four-point advantage throughout most of the third set, siding out on critical points late in the set before consecutive kills from WCU’s Timmerman tied the game at 22. After a Cougars timeout, Chubb went to work making two kills and a block to quickly squelch the Catamount momentum and win the set for CofC, 25-22.

The Cougars took control of the fourth set midway through as a 4-1 run gave College of Charleston an 18-14 lead. Kills from White and Theesfeld got the Cougars to 21-16 and CofC eventually won, 25-22. Theesfeld made six kills in the final set while Shelton tallied 10 digs.

 

Furman 3, Elon 0

GREENVILLE, S.C.  – Junior Caroline Adams hit .524 with 11 kills and six blocks as the Furman volleyball team blanked Elon, 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-21), Saturday night in Alley Gymnasium in Greenville, S.C.  

The teams battled through a close start to the first set.  With the score tied at 13, Furman went on an 8-2 run to take a 21-15 lead on its way to a 25-18 victory.  Again in the second set, the teams fought through a close beginning, settling into a 12-all tie before the Paladins put together three-consecutive points to take control of the match.  The Phoenix remained within four points of Furman at 20-16, but the Paladins capitalized off three-consecutive Elon attack errors to take a 23-16 advantage in the set, rolling to a 25-18 win to take a 2-0 lead at the break.

Following a 9-9 tie in the third set, Furman put together a 4-1 run to lead 13-10, but Elon came alive, winning six-straight points to build a 16-13 advantage.  The Phoenix stretched the lead to 19-15 before an 8-0 run turned the tables in the Paladins’ favor, 23-19.  Behind the strong support of the home crowd, Furman held off a final surge from Elon, sealing the match with a 25-21 set-three victory.

Furman junior Natalie Braun notched a double-double in the win, recording 10 kills and a team-high 17 assists, while senior Kelly Kirby added 16 assists in the match-up.  Senior Alexis Shaffer hit .421 with nine kills, and senior libero Carolyn Nicoletti paced the Paladin defensive attack with 15 digs.  Sophomore Elle Ross also tallied 11 digs in the victory.

Elon (16-10, 4-6 SoCon) was led by senior Caroline Lemke, who recorded nine kills.  Senior Megan McMahon added 24 assists, and junior libero Ali Deatsch had eight digs for the Phoenix.

 

UNCG 3, Wofford 1

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Despite taking the opening set, the Wofford volleyball team fell 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-17) to the UNCG Spartans in front of a season high crowd of 521 of Girl Scout Day inside the Benjamin Johnson Arena in a Southern Conference match.

In the opening set, Wofford jumped out to a 7-2 lead highlighted by two kills from Amanda Liguori and Wendy Burnett.  After UNCG pulled within three, 7-4, a Burnett kill halted the run.  The Spartans pulled to within three at 14-11, 17-14 and 18-15, but Wofford held on as they went ahead 23-17.  UNCG mounted on more attempt at the set when they pulled within three, 23-21, but kills by Lucy Reser and Kelsey Bagwell gave Wofford the 25-21 win.

Wofford again, jumped out to an early lead in the second set as they pulled ahead 8-5, only to see UNCG rally to tie the set at eight.  With the score tied at ten, the Terriers used a Liguori kill and a Tara Gough service ace to take a 12-10 lead.  Trailing 17-15, the Spartans used back-to-back-to-back kills to take an 18-17 lead, but a Woodlee kill knotted the set at 18 on the next point.  Neither team pulled away with the set as the match had three more ties, before UNCG broke a tie at 23 with two kills to take the second set 25-23.

The third set opened with the Spartans jumping out to a 7-1 lead highlighted by three service aces.  Wofford got within four 12 times during the set, but couldn’t cut the margin any closer as they fell 25-18.

In the fourth set, UNCG again took an early lead, 8-3, only to see Wofford comeback within two points, 12-10, on a Liguori kill and to 15-14 on a Gough kill.  Wofford could never even the set as the Spartans pushed the lead to 17-14.  Two UNCG errors trimmed the margin to 17-16, but the Spartans ended the set and the match with an 8-1 run to win 25-17.

Liguori paced Wofford with 16 kills, while Baird added 11 kills on 14 swings with just one error for a .714 hitting percentage.  Burnett chipped in with eight kills.  Styles kept her double-digit dig performance going as she collected a team-high 17 digs.  She now has 18 consecutive matches with double-digit digits and double digits in 22 of the team’s 26 matches.  Burnett had a team-high three total blocks, one solo and two assists., while Bekah Dorsey and Gough passed out 21 and 17 digs respectively in the match.

Wofford lost the battle at the net as UNCG had ten total blocks compared to six for the Terriers.  The Spartans also had six service aces with four errors, while Wofford had three aces and eight errors. 

 

Appalachian State 3, The Citadel 1

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Behind a career-high 19 kills from Maggie Seeds, Appalachian State volleyball got back to its winning ways with a 3-1 win over The Citadel on Saturday, Oct. 22 at McAlister Field House.

The Mountaineers (16-7, 8-2) dropped the first set before roaring back to win three-straight over the Bulldogs (7-16, 0-10) to bounce back from a loss to College of Charleston on Friday. Appalachian held the lead for nearly the entire first set, leading by as many as four points (14-10) before the Bulldogs grabbed a 17-16 lead late in the set. 

The Apps tied it up at 19 but The Citadel put the match away with six of the next nine points, which included three errors from the Mountaineers, to take a 25-22 set victory. ASU fell behind early in the second set before rallying to take a 7-3 lead early on. The Bulldogs made it 7-6 with three-straight points before Appalachian strung together a 7-4 run to make it 14-10.

The Apps never relinquished their lead, scoring 12 of the final 15 points to pick up a 25-14 win. Seeds had four of Appalachian’s 12 points during the 12-3 run to put the match away.

The third set saw two early lead changes before the Mountaineers went on a 12-3 run to jump out to a 13-6 lead. The Citadel would not come within less than four points the rest of the way as the Apps cruised to a 25-18 win.

Appalachian dominated the fourth and final set as it opened the finale on a 9-0 run and never trailed in another 25-14 victory. The Apps led 24-8 before a last-gasp effort by The Citadel fell short.

In addition to her 19 kills, Seeds picked up 10 digs for her first double-double of the season. Alison Blasingame, Kelly Rhein and Lindsey Sauls each had eight kills.

Kasey Sauls had a match-high 40 assists to up her career-total to 2,989 assists and Courtney Rhein had 11 digs to push her career-total to 1,110. Rhein needs just 52 more digs to supplant Sheri Leverette for eighth in ASU history.

As a team, the Mountaineers hit .276 and held the Bulldogs to a .098 hitting percentage. The Apps forced 27 errors and committed 20 of their own while The Citadel finished with a 12-10 advantage on blocks.

Samford 3, Georgia Southern 1

STATESBORO, Ga. - After falling behind 2-0 the Georgia Southern Volleyball team (13-12, 5-4) rallied to win the third set before dropping a Southern Conference contest to the Samford Bulldogs (21-3, 8-2) 3-1 on Saturday night. Four Eagles recorded 10 or more kills in the annual Dig Pink contest. 

The Bulldogs hit over .300 as a squad and tallied 11 blocks to win their 21st match of the season 31-29, 25-16, 23-25, 25-23. Elizabeth Neisler hit .405 on the night and posted a game-high 20 kills. Alexis Bauer led the Samford defense with 19 digs and two others posted double-digit counts in the dig category.

The Eagles were hindered by a .178 hitting percentage, their lowest in 13 matches, and hit below .200 in all but the third set. Hannah Nelson and Bethany Sanford led the team with 12 kills each, while Enjoli Johnson added 11 kills with only one error. Nicole Jeschelnik rounded out the Georgia Southern offense with 10 kills in 25 attempts. 

Moriah Bellissimo tallied nearly half of the Eagles' 66 digs. She posted a career-high 30 digs on the defensive end to help hold the Bulldog attack at bay.

Georgia Southern fought hard in the first set and even lead 25-24 on a service ace by Hayli Ketner. The Bulldogs rattled off the next two points to pull ahead 26-25. The back and forth scoring continued with the score being tied at 28 and 29 all before a kill by Neisler put Samford up 30-29. The Eagles committed an attack error to end the set. 

Samford carried their momentum over from the first set victory and took an early 10-6 lead in set two. They continued to lead 14-10 in the middle of the set and extended that lead to 18-11. The Eagles could not shave down the margin and fell 25-16. 

Georgia Southern won the hotly contested third set 25-23 before falling in the fourth set by the same score. The Eagles rallied from a 19-16 deficit late in the match. A couple of Samford errors sparked the run and kills by Johnson and Parker Small helped the Eagles secure the set point.