Wofford 3, Davidson 1
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Led by Amanda Liguori’s career-high 20 points, the Woffford volleyball team ended their 2011 season with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 14-25, 25-22) win over Davidson Sunday afternoon in the Benjamin Johnson Arena in a Southern Conference match.
Liguori tied a career-high in kills with 18 and added two solo blocks to earn her 20 points. Her 18 kills came on 46 attempts with only four errors for a .304 hitting percentage.
Rachel Woodlee followed with 16 kills on 42 attempts with five errors for .262 hitting percentage. Wendy Burnett and Arden Anderson tallied nine kills apiece, while Bekah Dorsey handed out 48 assists. Reagan Styles finished with 21 digs. Styles ends the season with 1,178 career digs in fifth place all-time on the Terrier all-time list and just six digs shy of fifth place.
Neither team could pull away in the opening set until the Terriers broke a 15-15 tie with a 5-0 run to take a 20-15 lead. The Wildcats pulled within two, 24-22, but Ligouri ended the set on a kill to give Wofford the 25-22 win.
Wofford hit .300 and held Davidson to .182 in the opening frame.
In the second set, Wofford took an early 9-5 lead and held on until Davidson mounted a 4-0 run down 18-14 to tie the set at 18. The two teams traded points, until kills from Woodlee and Liguori broke a tie at 23 and gave Wofford the 25-23 win.
Wofford again held a higher hitting percentage in the set, as they hit .310 compared to .150 for Davidson.
The third set saw the Wildcats turn a 10-9 lead into a 13-10 lead as they went on to take the set 25-14.
Davidson came out firing in the set as they hit .583 in the third compared to just .071 for Wofford.
The Wildcats took an early 6-1 lead in the fourth set, but the Terriers rallied back to for a tie at nine. Trailing 13-11, the Terriers went on a 3-1 run to tie the set at 14. Wofford pushed ahead 17-15 and pulled away as far as 23-19 before ending the set and the match at 25-22.
In the final set, Wofford held a small hitting percent advantage with a .268 mark compared to .205 for Davidson.
The Terriers end their season at 14-19 overall and 3-13 in SoCon play. The win also snapped a 13-match losing skid for Wofford.
Elon 3, The Citadel 0
ELON, N.C. – In a must win situation, the Elon volleyball team came out strong against The Citadel to claim a 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-29) win today, Nov. 13, for a berth in the Southern Conference Volleyball Tournament. The victory closes out the regular season for the Phoenix with a 19-13 overall record (7-9 SoCon), while the Bulldogs finish the year 8-22 (1-15 SoCon).
Freshman Chanelle Smith led Elon with 10 kills, while seniors Caroline Lemke and Traci Stewart each recorded nine. Senior Megan McMahon set the offense with 36 assists, while C. Smith and junior Ali Deatsch contributed with three and two service aces, respectively.
Deatsch’s two aces tied her for Elon’s Division I single season record with 51 aces this year.
In the first set, The Citadel jumped out to an early 5-2 lead, before an ace by McMahon, two kills by Stewart and one by junior Celia Rose Eddy helped the Phoenix score six unanswered for an 8-5 advantage. The Bulldogs would come back to tie the set at 14-all and then reclaim the lead by two, 16-14. A kill by C. Smith would tie the set for the seventh time, 19-all, and start a four-point run for Elon that also included two aces by C. Smith and a kill by Stewart to put the Phoenix up 23-19. The Citadel pulled back within two, 23-21, but a kill by freshman Danielle Smith and Stewart gave Elon the first-set win, 25-21.
The second set remained close early with the score tied four times before reaching 11-all. A kill by C. Smith put the Phoenix up 12-11 and spurred a quick three-point run that also included another kill by C. Smith, one by Eddy and an ace by Lemke. Up by two, 15-13, two more kills by C. Smith, one by junior Carly Ledbetter and a block by Eddy and Stewart helped Elon score five straight to move ahead by seven, 20-13. Two aces by Deatsch and a kill by Lemke ended the set in favor of the Phoenix, 25-14.
Off the serve of Deatsch, the maroon and gold jumped out to a 6-1 lead to start the third set. The Bulldogs closed the gap to three, 9-6, before 5-3 run, which included kills by Ledbetter, Lemke and Stewart, put the Phoenix up by five, 14-9. A three-point run helped move Elon to an eight-point advantage, 20-12. The Phoenix maintained its lead from there and would later close out the set with a kill by C. Smith for a 25-19 win and match sweep.
The victory earned Elon the SoCon North Division’s fourth seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The Phoenix will play the No. 1 south seed, College of Charleston, in the first round of the SoCon Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 12:30 p.m. in Birmingham, Ala.
Appalachian State 3, Samford 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kelly Rhein set a career-high with 25 kills and Kasey Sauls eclipsed the 50-assist plateau in Appalachian State volleyball's 3-2 win over Samford on Sunday, Nov. 13 at the Hanna Center.
The Mountaineers (20-10, 12-4) ended the regular season in style by sweeping the season series against the Bulldogs (26-4, 13-3), who had clinched the Southern Conference North Division title on Saturday.
Samford, which finished just one game ahead of the Apps in the SoCon North, cruised to an easy 25-12 win in the first set before Appalachian battled back to take two-straight.
The Mountaineers took a quick 3-0 lead in the second set and, despite several Bulldog rallies, never trailed en route to a 25-21 set victory. The Bulldogs were able to tie the set late (17-17) but ASU responded with three-straight points to begin a set-clinching 8-4 run.
A back-and-forth third set was the highlight of the afternoon as it featured 10 ties and three lead changes before the Black and Gold picked up a 25-23 win to give it a 2-1 advantage after three sets.
Despite holding a 22-17 lead late in the third set, the Mountaineers allowed Samford to get back into it by surrendering four of the next five points before Anna Wagner put the set away with one of her 25 kills.
Samford bounced back with a dominant fourth-set effort as it did not surrender the lead at any point on its way to a 25-18 win to tie the match at 2-2.
The fifth and final set saw the Bulldogs build a 6-4 lead before the Mountaineers came roaring back with a 5-0 run to take the lead.
Appalachian led by as many as five points (14-9) before Samford scored three in a row to cut the deficit to just two points, but K. Rhein put the match away with her final kill of the match.
Her 25 kills eclipsed her previous career-high of 19, set against The Citadel on Sept. 26, 2009, and the senior outside hitter added 14 digs in the contest.
Wagner also finished with 14 digs to go along with 25 kills as the duo combined to record 50 of Appalachian's 67 kills in the contest.
Courtney Rhein led all players with 27 digs while Sauls notched 51 assists, her highest total of the season, to go along with 12 digs.
Appalachian State hit .241 as a team while Samford hit .300 but was held to just .074 in the final set. The Bulldogs finished with an 8-4 edge in blocks but committed nine service errors.
The Mountaineers will face Georgia Southern at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19 in the first round of the 2011 SoCon Volleyball Championships. Appalachian State earned the No. 2 seed in the SoCon North while the Eagles are the No. 3 seed out of the SoCon South.
Western Carolina 3, Chattanooga 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --Seniors Carrie Minogue, Brittany Lysik and Rebecca Stoltz set career marks as the Western Carolina volleyball team defeated Chattanooga in five sets (25-27, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22, 15-12) to reach the Southern Conference Volleyball Tournament for the first time since 2006.
Carrie Minogue set a career-high in kills, tallying a match-high 24 kills, hitting at a .457 clip. Brittany Lysik dished out 48 assists in the winning effort, while freshman Caitlin Piechota picked up her second double-double of the weekend, hitting 12 kills and picking up 22 digs. Stoltz set a career high in blocks, rejecting 11 potential kills by the Mocs.
The first set was tight with neither team able to grab a substantial lead. WCU reached set point as Abbey Scroggins and Carrie Minogue blocked Jennifer Kuroski’s attack. Chattanooga would sideout, though, forcing extra points to determine the winner of the set. A UTC kill and a service ace would give the Mocs the 27-25 win to pick up the first point.
In the second, both teams remained even throughout most of the set. With the score at 18-18, the Catamounts got a big block from Rebecca Stoltz and Abbey Scroggins. Two kills from Stoltz and another block by the senior, with Jordan Timmermann assisting, would allow the Catamounts to tie the match going into the intermission.
Both teams would exchange points over the next two sets, setting up a fifth set to determine the winner and the Catamounts’ postseason play.
Western Carolina continued where it left off from set four, jumping out to a 10-5 lead, forcing the Mocs to call a time out. Out of the timeout, UTC picked up four straight points, this time forcing Western Carolina to take its first timeout of the set. Out of the timeout, the Mocs would tie the set with a service ace from Melissa Green. The excitement continued as on the very next play, Green was not able to keep the serve inbounds, giving the Catamounts the 11-10 lead. The Mocs would again tie the match at 12, but it would be all Chattanooga could do in the match. A kill by Minogue and Piechota gave the Catamounts match point. Seniors Brittany Lysik and Carrie Minogue would block Meagan Ernd to allow Western Carolina to return to the SoCon Tournament for the first time since 2006.
A total of five Catamounts reached double-digits in digs, as Jordan Timmermann (22), Piechota (22), Morgan Cochran (17), Paige McConlogue (14) and Brittany Lysik (13) all reached double figures.
This weekend’s SoCon matches have created an interesting situation for the third and fourth seeds to represent the North Division. Elon, who begin the weekend tied with Western Carolina for third, dropped both of its matches, giving the Phoenix a 7-9 conference record. UNCG won both of its matches to improve its record to 7-9 as well. The win over Chattanooga freed the Catamounts from the three-way tie, giving WCU the third seed. Elon, with the tiebreaker over UNCG, will be the No. 4 seed from the North.
Western Carolina will now play Furman, the No. 2 seed from the North, in the first round of the SoCon Tournament, hosted by Samford University, at 4:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.