Wofford 3, The Citadel 0

Spartanburg, S.C. – Wendy Burnett tied the school record with a .800 hitting percentage as the Wofford volleyball team picked up their tenth sweep of the season, 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-8) over The Citadel Bulldogs Friday night in a Southern Conference match in the Benjamin Johnson Arena.

Burnett had eight kills on ten swings with no errors for a .800 hitting percentage tying a Wofford school record.  Her mark matched Dorsey’s .800 hitting percentage against Kent State earlier in the season.

In the opening set, The Citadel broke a tie at five with a 5-2 run to take a 10-7 lead, only to see Wofford rally with a 5-0 run pull ahead 12-10.  During the Terrier rally Amanda Liguori had five consecutive serves including one ace.  Wofford took control of the set as the pulled ahead 19-14 and held on to win the set 25-17.  Anderson had six kills in opener, and Woodlee tallied five kills.

Wofford took control of the second set early as they jumped out to a 12-6 lead.  The Citadel pulled within four, 17-13, but would get no closer as the Terriers took the set 25-14.  Wofford hit .321 in the frame, while The Citadel hit at a .036 clip.

The Terriers dominated the third set as Bekah Dorsey served the opening eight points to put Wofford up 7-1.  Wofford would go on to finished the set, 25-8, as Tara Gough served the final six points to clinch the match.

Anderson tallied a match-high 11 kills on 16 swings with only one error for a .625 hitting percentage, and Woodlee followed with nine kills for the Terriers. Burnett had a match-high four total blocks, two block assists and two solo blocks.  Dorsey handed out 27 assists and had two service aces, while Reagan Style picked up a match-high 16 digs.

Wofford outhit The Citadel .345 to -.012 in the match and controlled the net with eight total team blocks compared to five for the Bulldogs.

With the win, Wofford improves to 13-7 overall and 2-3 in the SoCon, while the Citadel drops to 7-10, and 0-5.

 

Furman 3, College of Charleston 1

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Furman won a 3-1 match victory over College of Charleston to hand the Cougars their first conference loss of the season. Despite a feverish first three sets (25-22, 21-25, 23-25), the Paladins won the fourth set, 25-6.

College of Charleston (13-8, 4-1) was led by 11 kills from freshman Sloane White and 10 kills from senior Sarah Havel. Havel hit .333 for the match and made six total blocks, including three solo. Senior Elyse Chubb hit a team-best .389 while making eight kills and only one error.

Freshman Lizzie Theesfeld made a career-best 19 digs and was closely followed by redshirt-junior Emily Shelton who had 17. Sophomore Kallie McKown made 19 assists and Taeler Davis tallied 17.

The Paladins (11-6, 3-1) used a strong effort from Christina Dorismond as she tied for the team high in kills (13), and hit .600 with just one error. She also made seven total blocks and had big points for the Paladins late in games. Natalie Braun also tallied 13 kills, while Kelly Kirby registered 11 kills.

The first set was hotly contested as neither team could build a lead greater than four points. The Paladins made that margin at 12-8, but the Cougars recovered with a kill from Kelly Kolich and blocks from Havel. Furman reached 20 first at 20-18, but Havel came up big again with a kill and a block to tie the set. Two more kills from Havel and a final attack from White gave the Cougars a 25-22 set victory. Havel finished with five kills and three total blocks in the set.

The second set continued like the first with both teams trading points most of the way through. However, Furman strung together a three-point rally at the end to break a 19-19 tie and lead 22-19. Dorismond made a kill and a block in the mini-run and executed a kill from the right on set point to give the Paladins a 25-21 set victory. The Cougars made eight attacking errors and receiving errors and only hit .133. Kolich led the squad with five kills in the second.

Neither team hit efficiently in the third set as the teams battled to a deadlock yet again. With the game tied at 20, both teams scored off of attack errors. A kill from Kirby gave the Paladins a 23-22 lead, followed by a kill from Alexis Shaffer. A late kill from White was not enough, as Kirby answered on the next play to give Furman a 25-23 set three win.

Furman scored the first 13 points of the fourth set, as Charleston struggled to find offensive rhythm. The Paladins hit .522 in the game, led by four kills from Braun and Amanda Komisarow. The Paladins won the fourth set, 25-6, to take the match victory.

 

Samford 3, UNCG 0

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford Bulldogs dispatched another conference foe in quick fashion Friday, defeating the UNC-Greensboro Spartans in a three-set match lasting just over an hour.  The Bulldogs have now defeated 12 opponents in three-set victories, including all three of their conference wins.  Samford is also undefeated at home, 6-0, this season.

Samford (16-3, 3-2 SoCon) shut down the UNCG (10-11, 2-3 SoCon) offense, limiting them to a .043 team hitting percentage while the Bulldogs hit at a .337 clip.  Katie Murphy led the team in kills (12) and hitting percentage (.571) with Elizabeth Neisler earning 11 kills of her own.  Alexis Bauer was the primary serve receiver, taking 25 with no errors and combined with Chelsi Carter for 22 of the team’s 44 digs.  Samford held the edge in blocks, 5-2, with Lauren Hutchinson pairing up for two and blocking one solo.

The Spartans scored the first point, which proved to be their only lead in the first set.  The Bulldogs answered back quickly with a kill by Neisler, followed by a Hutchinson kill and a Neisler service ace.  Samford maintained the small lead into the first UNCG timeout with the Bulldogs up 17-13.  Carter served up two in a row afterwards, setting up kills by Murphy and Michaela Reesor which forced another UNCG timeout with Samford now up 19-13.  The Bulldogs further widened the gap, setting up set-point, 24-15, thanks to a kill by Neisler.  UNCG scored three in a row afterwards, looking for a comeback, but a timely block by Neisler and Hutchinson sealed the 25-18 win in the first set.

The second set started tight, with UNCG taking an early lead, only to relent it to Samford before tying it back up at 10-10, forcing a Bulldog timeout.  A UNCG attack error after the break gave Samford possession up 11-10, and Garvey served up an ace and then forced a Spartan attack error, giving the Bulldogs a three-point lead to force the Spartan timeout.  UNCG took another break down 17-14, and Samford only allowed them to score consecutive points once after that.  Hutchinson, Carter, Bauer and Taylor Chao were all in the service rotation rounding out the set and helped earn the 25-20 win.

The third set was won by the largest margin of the three, and Samford’s offense set a hard pace right out of the gate.  The Bulldogs doubled up the Spartans twice in the early going, going up 6-3 and later 10-5 before UNCG had to regroup with a timeout.  The Bulldogs followed with a 6-3 run with kills by Hutchinson, Neisler and Reesor to go up 16-8, forcing yet another Spartan timeout.  Up 17-11, Carter knocked down a kill to give the Bulldogs possession and earned another one two points later extending the lead to 20-11.  Each team scored four to set up a sweep victory for the Bulldogs, up 24-15, and Hutchinson provided the final blow with her kill to earn the 25-15 victory.

 

Western Carolina 3, Davidson 2

DAVIDSON, N.C. — The Western Carolina Catamounts defeated the Davidson Wildcats, 3-2 (24-26, 25-14, 21-25, 25-16, 9-15), Friday night in SoCon volleyball action at Belk Arena.

Davidson (12-6, 2-3 SoCon) outscored Western Carolina (8-13, 3-2), 71-61, and won nearly every statistical category, but ended up on the losing end. The Wildcats outhit the Catamounts (.192-.154), and bested Western in kills (60-48), assists (57-45) and digs (90-77).

Individually, the Wildcats placed four hitters in double figures, led by sophomore middle hitter Tindall Sewell, who continued her steady offensive play with 12 kills on 22 swings to hit .500 in the match. Sophomore outside hitter Caroline Brown (13), senior outside hitter Christine Perzinski (12) and senior middle hitter Madison Benedict (10) also tallied double-digits for the Wildcats. With four players in double figures in digs, led by 32 for junior libero Molly Crenshaw, Brown (with a career-high 22) and Perzinski (13) finished with double-doubles. Sophomore defensive specialist Jenna Ptaschinski had 11 digs, and junior setter Ariel Ley finished with 49 assists.

Carrie Minogue led Western with 13 kills and a .367 hitting clip, while Caitlin Piechota finished with 10. Brittany Lysik finished with 41 assists and 14 digs, one of four Catamounts in double figures. Morgan Cochran paced the defense with 19 digs.

After a back-and-forth contest, Western rattled off five straight points to turn a 19-17 deficit into a 22-19 lead in the opening set. The Wildcats responded with a 3-0 run, begun by a kill from Sewell, to tie the set at 22, but Jordan Timmerman gave Western a one-point edge. A Catamount service error knotted the set again, and Western had a set point after Minogue's kill. Brown put away a pass from Ley to tie the set and force extra possessions, but the Catamounts won two straight on a Timmerman kill and a Wildcat error to win the first set, 26-24.

Davidson was in complete control of the second set, turning an early 7-2 lead into an overwhelming 23-10 advantage. Perzinski and Sewell each added four kills in the set, as the Wildcats outhit the Catamounts .406 to .094. Western closed out the frame with a 4-2 run but the lead was too great, and Davidson evened the match with a 25-14 victory.

The Wildcats continued their dominance in the third set, rolling to a 4-0 early lead. But Western wouldn't go quietly, using an 8-1 run to jump ahead, 8-5. The Catamounts pushed that lead to 17-8, but despite the large deficit, the Wildcats nearly pulled off the comeback. Trailing 21-14, Davidson won six straight points, including three kills by Brown and one each by Sewell and Perzinski, to get within a score, 21-20. The Catamounts, though, won the next point on a Wildcat hitting error and took a critical 22-20 lead on a kill by Minogue. Brown won the point and the possession for Davidson, but Western finished off the set on back-to-back kills from Minogue and Piechota for the 25-21 win.

But Davidson bounced back in the fourth set, turning a quick 13-4 lead into a crushing 19-8 margin. Kills by Benedict and sophomore middle hitter Taylor Pisel gave Davidson a set-point chance at 24-12, but the Catamounts fought off four set points before a service error by Timmerman finally lifted Davidson to a 25-16 win to force the fifth and decisive set.

The teams traded points in the abbreviated set before, with the score tied at 4-4, Western used a 5-1 run to open an important 8-5 lead. The Catamounts pushed that lead to 13-7 behind a 7-2 spurt, and Davidson could not pull off the comeback, falling 15-9 in the final set.