Georgia Southern 3, North Florida 0

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Volleyball team (11-9) extended its home winning streak to eight games with a 3-0 match victory over North Florida (8-10) Wednesday night. The Eagles won 25-15, 25-19, 25-20 over the Atlantic Sun foe in the non-conference finale.

GSU hit .330 in the match and steadily increased their hitting percentage from .219 in the first set to .424 in the third set. It was a total team effort on offense with Meredith Paskert (Brecksville, Ohio) leading the team with 9 kills. Kate Van Dyke (Shawnee, Kan.) added seven kills and a stellar .750 hitting percentage to go along with 27 assists. Moriah Bellissimo (Blackstone, Va.) and Nicole Jeschelnik (Ladera Ranch, Calif.) were second on the squad with eight kills each.

It was a similar story on defense. The Eagles held the Ospreys to a .107 hitting percentage and got a balanced effort from the back line. North Florida hit a negative .028 in the first set and posted a match high of just .216 in the third set. Bellissimo recording a team-best 10 digs, while Van Dyke posted 9 digs to help neutralize the UNF offense.

Georgia Southern jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the first set due in part to four Osprey errors. North Florida pulled to within three points, 12-9, before the Eagles pulled away to win the first set by 10 points.

UNF opened the second set with three-straight points and led 6-2 before GSU tied the set at 9-9. The Eagles took their first lead in the set, 10-9, thanks to a Van Dyke kill. Parker Small (Charlotte, N.C.) tallied four kills to help Georgia Southern to a 25-19 second-set win.

The Eagles led by as many as six points in the third set, 17-11, but had to hold on for a 25-20 third-set victory. GSU got four kills from Van Dyke and four from Bellissimo in the third set.

Three players posted seven kills for North Florida but all three were held below a .300 hitting percentage. Casey Giovanazzi tallied 25 of the team's 29 assists and added three kills of her own. Nicole Baran led the UNF defense with 16 digs, while Anna Budinska added 10 digs.

Samford 3, Chattanooga 0

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford Bulldogs (15-3, 2-2 SoCon) began their five-game homestand in convincing fashion, taking down Chattanooga (2-16, 0-4 SoCon) in three sets, their 11th sweep win of the season, second in conference play.

The front-line trio of Neisler, Murphy and Lauren Hutchinson all had double-digit kills, with Neisler leading the team with 12.  As the No. 2 player in the nation in hitting percentage, Hutchinson hit an impressive .692 clip with Murphy not far behind at .667.  Casey Garvey set the pace for the offense, accounting for all 42 of the team’s assists.  Alexis Bauer led the defense with 17 digs, while Chelsi Carter followed close behind with 14 digs and was perfect on 24 serve receptions.

Samford began to pull away in the first set at the five-point mark, going on a 6-2 run to force an early Chattanooga timeout.  The Lady Mocs took another after Samford built an 18-11 lead, followed by three points in a row by the Bulldogs.  Up 20-12, Samford would not allow Chattanooga to hold any sustained possession, eventually winning the set 25-15.

The Lady Mocs built an early 3-0 lead in the second game, but Samford bounced back quickly, tying the game at 5-5 thanks to an unassisted kill by Murphy.  Murphy’s next kill put the Bulldogs up 9-6, forcing yet another Chattanooga timeout.  The teams traded points back and forth throughout the middle of the set, with Samford holding a five-point lead, up 19-14, at the next timeout.  Alicia Roth came out of the timeout with a service ace off her jump serve, followed by a Chattanooga attack error on the next serve.  The Lady Mocs only scored one point after the final timeout of the set, and Samford earned a comfortable 25-15 win.

The Bulldogs took advantage of five Chattanooga errors in set three to build the early 9-6 win, with Neisler, Hutchinson and Murphy all contributing to an offense that was well in rhythm.  The Bulldogs then went on a 9-4 run, including a four-serve rally by Garvey closed out with back-to-back kills by Michaela Reesor to force the final Chattanooga timeout of the match.  The teams traded points the remainder of the set, but the early gap proved large enough to allow the Bulldogs to take the 25-16 win and seal the 3-0 sweep. 

 
Furman 3, Wofford 0

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Junior Chandler Ambrester notched a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs to lead the Furman volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-14) win over Wofford Wednesday night in Alley Gymnasium in Greenville, S.C.

Early in the first set the Terriers pulled ahead 6-4, but the Paladins reeled off six-straight points to take a 10-6 lead. Wofford pulled within two at 11-9, before Furman answered with an 8-4 run for a 19-13 advantage to take control of the set.  A kill from junior Caroline Adams sealed the 25-18 victory for the Paladins.

In the second set, Wofford took an early 4-2 lead, but again Furman put together a 6-0 run to go ahead 8-4. The Paladins kept command of the set and pulled ahead 23-12 en route to a 25-17 set win.  Furman opened the third set with a 5-0 run then pushed the lead to 11-3. The Paladins dominated the set, holding the Terriers to a .077 attack percentage while hitting .429, moving on to a 25-14 victory to clinch the match

Adams hit .500 with ten kills and four blocks to lead the Paladins, while senior Kelly Kirby added a double-double with 21 assists and 10 digs.  Junior Natalie Braun paced the team with 26 assists, and senior Carolyn Nicoletti tallied 11 digs in the match-up.  Senior Alexis Shaffer added nine kills for Furman.