The Citadel 3, South Carolina State

Charleston, S.C. – Kathryn Johnston notched a team-high nine kills to lead The Citadel to a 25-13, 25-22, 25-22 sweep of in-state foe South Carolina State on Tuesday evening at McAlister Field House. The senior outside hitter paced a Bulldog front row that connected on 39 kills in 85 total attacks and finished with a .341 attack percentage, the second-highest this season.

Johnston led six Citadel players with five or more kills in the match, including Alexa Dahlstrom (seven kills), Rachael Farrell (six kills), Lauren Hurt (six kills) and Kaona Mercer (six kills). Freshman Amanda Rudnik added five kills to go along with match-high three service aces. On defense the Dogs were anchored by Farrell's six digs and Hurt's three assisted blocks. Dahlstrom dished out 25 assists and was integral in moving The Citadel to 7-9 overall on the season.

The S.C. State (9-11) lineup was highlighted by an 18-kill performance from Desire Waller, who committed just three errors to finish with a .577 attack percentage. While teammate Elizabeth Webb added eight kills, it was SCSU's 22 team errors that proved to be the difference between the two units. Brendell Studnicka accounted for a match-high 10 digs, while Bria Brimmer handed out 32 assists for South Carolina State.

The Citadel came out firing in the opening set, establishing an early 17-4 lead behind 11 team kills, including three off swings by Farrell. The Cadets not only took advantage of Farrell's kills, but also her strong service game, which included a service ace and forcing a pair of SCSU attack errors, to maintain the advantage. S.C. State put together a 4-2 run, before the Dogs regained their offensive rhythm and drove home five kills to complete the 25-13 win.

The two teams battled for supremacy throughout the second set with The Citadel grabbing a 7-4 lead on a kill by Farrell. Johnston converted a kill on a pass from Dahlstrom to maintain the three-point edge, 14-11, before a series of kills by Shabree Roberson drew the score even at 15-15. The back-and-forth affair continued, with neither team leading by more than two points, before an eventual 22-22 tie. It was there that Emily Dalton's service ace gave the Cadets a slight one-point edge. A kill by Mercer and error by Webb completed the second game victory, 25-22.

The Citadel carried that momentum into the third game, jumping out to an 8-3 advantage in the early going, as Mercer's service game forced four consecutive SCSU attack errors. Kills from Hurt and Johnston down the stretch kept S.C. State at a distance, before Waller's service game drew the Lady Bulldogs even at 18-18. A series of kills by Mercer, Johnston and Hurt proved to be the difference down the stretch of the 25-22 game three win.

UNCG 3, North Carolina Central 0

GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG ran out and easily took the first set 25-13 en route to sweeping North Carolina Central 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-22) on Tuesday evening in Fleming Gymnasium. The match was the Spartans' final nonconference and midweek match of the season.

The Spartans improved to 10-10 with the win, while the Eagles fell to 1-18 on the year.

Karrian Chambers led the Spartan attack as she delivered a match-high 12 kills and Kelsey Sidney added eight kills. Despite only playing in two sets, Ari Lysacek had a match-high 18 assists and Kellie Orewiler had a team-high 11 digs.

Emanuelle Santos had 10 kills to lead the way for the Eagles and also posted 13 digs for the match's lone double-double.

The opening set close in the early going as UNCG led just 7-6 before using an 11-2 run to open up an 18-8 advantage. After a block by Lysacek and  Morgan Freeman  set up set point, the Spartans were the recipient of an Eagle attack error to win the set, 25-14.

The second set was much tighter as UNCG went to its bench early and often. The Spartans raced out to an 8-4 lead, but found themselves tied with the Eagles at 12. The two sides were still tied at 23 late in the set, but got an attack error from North Carolina Central and a kill by Sidney to win the set, 25-23, and take a 2-0 lead into intermission.

Coming out of the break, UNCG fell behind early 6-3, but fought back to take a 12-8 lead. UNCG would like by as many as five late in the set before the Eagles rallied to pull within one at 23-22. After an Eagle attack error, Holland Hoefnagel delivered a kill to give the Spartans the final set, 25-22.

Western Carolina 0, UNCA 3

In a match that saw 18 tie scores and six lead changes, Western Carolina fell to mountain-rival UNC Asheville in three sets (16-25, 23-25, 22-25). With the loss, Western Carolina fell to 7-13 on the season while UNC Asheville improved to 9-7.

After jumping ahead to a 7-3 lead, a service error followed by an attack error put the Catamounts back in the match. A Brittany Lysik kill brought the Catamounts within one at 7-6.  UNC Asheville would climb to a 16-11 lead, before head coach Karen Glover would decide to take a timeout. With the score at 18-11, a solo block by Carrie Minogue would cut the lead to four, 18-14. Both teams would trade points before the Bulldogs would return to a six-point, 21-15, lead before Glover would call another timeout to try to corral the Bulldogs, but UNCA would go on to take the set, 25-16. The Bulldogs outhit the Catamounts .196 to -.024 in the first set.

The Catamounts came firing back, though, as WCU got to a 5-2 start before a UNCA timeout. After the timeout the Bulldogs would go on a 4-1 run. A kill followed by a Jordan Timmermann service ace would even up the set. After a Karen Glover timeout, a pair of Timmermann aces would bring the Catamounts within one before a Caitlin Piechota block would tie the match at 20. Piechota would come up big again in the set, laying down a kill to again even the match. An attack error would even the second set before UNCA would take the set 25-23.

Head coach Karen Glover would try a different wrinkle to the lineup after the break, inserting freshman Addy George.  UNCA again went ahead for an early 8-5 lead. Western Carolina put together a much-needed 4-0 run to even the set at nine. One of Jordan Timmermann’s five third set kills tied the match at 15. The Catamounts would take a 16-15 lead before the Bulldogs were able to side out to, again for the sixth time, tie the match at 19. An Anna Moore kill for UNCA would give the Bulldogs a one point lead before a Karen Glover timeout. With match point at 24-20, a UNCA error would allow the Catamounts to pick up two points to make a 24-22 UNCA lead. UNCA would get one final kill to seal the set and the match, 3-0.

As a team, Western Carolina mustered a .039 hitting percentage. Sophomore libero Morgan Cochran totaled a season-high 20 digs for the night making it the tenth time the Mebane, N.C.-native has logged double-digit digs in 2011.