Samford 3, Elon 1

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -The Samford Bulldogs extended their home win streak to seven matches with a thrilling 3-1 victory over SoCon North Division rival Elon on Saturday.  The teams split the first two sets and Samford won a long third set and a short fourth set to earn their first four-set victory of the season.

The Samford (17-3, 4-2 SoCon) defense was strong, out-blocking Elon (13-7, 2-3 SoCon) 8-4 and limiting the Phoenix to a .138 hitting percentage. Carter and Reesor both earned double-doubles in the match, notching season-highs in kills at 12 and 15, respectively.  Neisler was the point-leader for the home team, tallying 20 points behind a team-leading 19 kills and one solo block.

Tied at 7-7 in the first set, Neisler hit three kills in a row to put the Bulldogs up 10-7 and force the first Elon timeout.  The Phoenix closed the gap, tying the game at 15-15, but an Elon service error and a Carter service ace gave Samford back the two-point lead.  Samford would maintain that two-point lead and at the 20-point mark, they would make a 5-2 run with Katie Murphy taking the final point in the 25-20 victory.

Elon bounced back at the start of the second set, jumping to an early 8-4 lead forcing Samford to take a timeout.  The Bulldogs chipped away at the deficit, eventually drawing within two, 13-15, thanks to two Elon attack errors prior to a Phoenix timeout.  Elon set a relentless pace out of the break, jumping ahead 23-18 and looking for the victory.  A kill by Reesor on the next point started a Bulldog comeback, with Reesor hitting another kill later to bring Samford within one, down 22-23.  Elon earned the next point to set up set-point, but Samford answered back with two to tie it at 25-25.  However, Elon knocked in two in a row after that and ended the long set with a 27-25 win.

Set three also ended 27-25, but this time it was in the Bulldogs’ favor.  Down 2-4 early, Samford took five consecutive points to jump up 7-4 and force an Elon timeout.  Elon later regained the lead, 11-10, thanks to a four-point rally, but back-to-back kills by Neisler and Reesor gave Samford back the lead, 12-11.  Samford maintained a slim lead for the rest of the set, with Reesor putting the Bulldogs up 24-23 with a kill off an Elon serve to give the Bulldogs possession at set point.  The Phoenix would tie the game up two more times, but Neisler and Hutchinson hit back-to-back kills to make the final score 27-25 and set up Samford’s first four-set victory of the season.

The final set proved the most decisive one of the match, but it began neck-and-neck with Samford only able to earn as much as a three-point lead.  Up 10-8, the Bulldogs turned on the afterburners and went on a 7-0 run, taking advantage of multiple Elon attack errors to go up 17-8 and force an Elon timeout.  Elon grabbed a point after the break, but Samford answered back with three more to move up 20-9.  Up 23-12, Murphy knocked in the final two kills of the match to wrap up a crucial division victory with a 25-12 fourth set win.

 

College of Charleston 3, Wofford 0

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – College of Charleston earned its fifth sweep of the season and second of the conference season as the Cougars defeated Wofford, 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-16).

College of Charleston moved to 5-1 on the conference season and 14-8 overall. Wofford fell to 2-4 in the SoCon and 13-8 on the season.

Sophomore Taeler Davis made her first start of the season at setter, notching 29 assists and 11 digs for her first career double-double. Freshman Lizzie Theesfeld led the team in kills with 10 to go with 11 digs. She also hit .360 with just one error.

Senior Elyse Chubb hit a team-best .500 on the match while making nine kills. Freshman Sloane White also made nine kills for the Cougars. College of Charleston hit .301 for the match, marking the third time in conference play that the Cougars have broken the .300 mark.

 

Redshirt-junior Emily Shelton made a team-best 13 digs and senior Sarah Havel notched six total blocks, as the Cougar defense held the Wofford attack to just .038.

The Terriers were led by eight kills from Arden Anderson. Rachel Woodlee and Wendy Burnett each tallied six kills.

In the first set, College of Charleston broke away from Wofford with a 5-0 run to lead 18-10 and finished the set on a 12-2 run to win the first set, 25-12. Chubb was deadly accurate on the slide, making six kills on nine attempts with no errors. Davis had eight assists and four digs and Shelton made eight digs. The Cougars hit .281 while limiting Wofford to a -.143 hitting percentage.

The Cougars were again able to make a mid-set run in the second, breaking open a 14-12 contest and building a 19-14 lead off of kills from Chubb and sophomore Kerstin Koehler. The Cougars scored the last five in a row on the serve of freshman Andi Zbojniewicz and won the second set, 25-16. Theesfeld and White tied for the team lead with four kills apiece and Theesfeld, Davis, Hayley Harrell and Shelton all made at least four digs.

CofC jumped out to a 8-1 lead in the third set and never trailed throughout. The Terriers could not pull closer than four points at 15-11 and Charleston rolled to a 25-16 set win. Theesfeld hit .500 in the third with five kills and the Cougars only made four attacking errors.

 

Furman 3, The Citadel 1

GREENVILLE, S.C.  – Sophomore Christina Dorismond hit .556 with 11 kills as the Furman volleyball team held off The Citadel 3-1 (25-16, 17-25, 25-18, 25-12) Saturday night in Alley Gymnasium in Greenville, S.C.  

Following a 4-4 tie at the beginning of set one, the Paladins went on a 9-3 run to break open the game and take a 13-7 lead.  Furman continued to control the set, moving on to a 25-16 victory.

The teams battled to a 7-7 tie to open the second set before Furman reeled off four-straight points for an 11-7 advantage.  With the Paladins up 13-9, the Bulldogs turned the set around, scoring four-consecutive points to tie the set at 13-apiece.    Following a 14-all tie, the Citadel scored off three-consecutive Bulldog kills to gain control of the set at 17-14.  After a Bulldog advantage of 20-15, the Paladins scored off a Citadel attack error, then a kill from Dorismond cut the lead to 20-17.  The Citadel, who hit .517 in set two, strung together five-straight points to end the set at 25-17 and even the match score at one set apiece.

The Paladins regrouped following the break and jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead in set three.  The Citadel slowly cut the deficit, coming within five at 16-11, but Furman remained in control and came away with a 25-18 set win.

With the score tied at 8-8 in the fourth set, Furman put together a 7-1 run to take a 15-9 advantage.  Following a Paladin service error, a kill by senior Alexis Shafer put junior Natalie Braun on the service line, where she led the team in a 5-0 run, giving the Paladins 21-10 lead and putting the match out of reach.

Braun and Kirby tallied double-doubles in the win, as Braun recorded 11 kills and 16 assists and Kirby notched 10 kills and a team-high 22 assists.  Senior Carolyn Nicoletti led the Paladin defense with 15 digs, while sophomore Elle Ross added 10 additional digs in the win.  Shaffer tied Dorismond and Braun’s 11 kills, while junior Caroline Adams added eight kills and seven blocks for Furman.

The Citadel (7-11, 0-6 SoCon) was led by Kaona Mercer’s 17 kills, while Alexa Dalstom recorded 30 assists.  Rachael Farrell posted a team-high 13 digs in the loss.

Chattanooga 3, UNCG 2

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – UNCG had four players with double-digit kills and rallied to force a fifth set, but fell to Chattanooga, 3-2 (25-14, 21-25, 25-21, 11-25, 15-11), on Saturday evening in Maclellan Gym.

After the two teams were tied at two, the sides settled in for a fifth and deciding set. UNCG stormed out of the gates in the final set to take an early 5-1 lead to force a Mocs timeout. After the timeout, Chattanooga went on an 8-2 run to take a 9-7 lead over the Spartans. UNCG would cut the deficit down to 14-11, but the Mocs got a kill from Christina Teter to win the final set, 15-11.

Karrian Chambers, Ariel Newman and Ari Lysacek all had double-doubles for the Spartans (10-12, 2-4 Southern Conference). Chambers posted a match-high 16 kills and 13 digs, while Newman added 11 kills and 14 digs. Lysacek came just four digs away from a triple-double as she had 32 assists, 10 kills and six digs.

Morgan Freeman also had double-digit kills as she recorded 11 kills and a .409 hitting percentage. Libero Kellie Orewile posted a match-high 31 digs in the match, her second match this season she has broken the 30-dig mark.

The Mocs (3-16, 1-4 SoCon) were led by Teter who had 16 kills, while Jennifer Kuroski and Kasey Talley had 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Paula Passmore also had 22 digs in the winning effort.

The opening set was close in the beginning as the Mocs held a narrow 14-13 lead midway through the set. Chattanooga then went on an 11-1 run to close out and win the set, 25-14.

The second set was also close in the early going before the Spartans were able to open up at 15-11 lead on a kill by Freeman. The Mocs would cut the Spartan lead down to 22-20 late in the set, but UNCG was able to hold on to win the set, 25-21, to tie the match at 1-all going into intermission.

Coming out of the break, the two teams played a close set that saw 14 ties and four lead changes. The Mocs led 22-21 late in the third set after another kill by Freeman, but the Mocs took the next three points to win the set, 25-21.

UNCG was able to force a fifth set by cruising to win the fourth set. The Spartans went on a 12-2 run to open up a 15-6 lead en route to easily winning the set, 25-11, to tie the match at two.

 

Appalachian State 3, Georgia Southern 1

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Volleyball team (11-10, 3-2) fell 3-1 to Appalachian State (12-7, 4-1) in the first game back in the main Hanner Fieldhouse gym. The loss snapped a nine-game home winning streak which stretched back to August 26th. 

The Eagles had three players record 10 kills and hit .253 as a team but could not get over the hump, falling 26-24, 25-23, 17-25, 25-23 to the Mountaineers. GSU fought hard pulling to within one point in all three sets they lost. The Eagles hit .321 in the third set but were held below .300 in the other three sets.

Bethany Sanford (Avondale, Ariz.), Parker Small (Charlotte, N.C.) and Meredith Paskert (Brecksville, Ohio) all tallied 10 kills to lead Georgia Southern offensively. Kate Van Dyke (Shawnee, Kan.) ran the offense with 47 assists and added nine digs on the defensive end.

Anna Wagner recorded a game-high 15 kills for Appalachian State, while Alison Blasingame tallied 13 kills. The Mountaineers out-hit GSU with a .266 attack percentage. The Eagle defense held them to just a .028 mark in the third set, but Appalachian State rebounded with their best hitting percentage of the match, .395, to win the fourth set.

The Georgia Southern defense tallied 70 digs and was led by Lauren LaRocque (Frisco, Texas), who posted 18 digs. Moriah Bellissimo (Blackstone, Va.) was second on the team with 16 digs, while Sanford added 10 digs.

Following the Eagles third set win, Appalachian State broke up a back and forth game to lead 10-7 after a GSU attack error. Following a Georgia Southern timeout the Eagles responded, pulling to within one point, 12-13. GSU tied the contest at 17 all on a service ace from Sanford. The set remained tied 21-21 before back-to-back kills by Kelly Rhein and Blasingame put the Mountaineers on top 23-21. Hannah Nelson (Norcross, Ga.) pulled the Eagles within a point with a pair of kills in the waning plays but a service error would end the match and the set at 25-23.