Furman 3, The Citadel 0

CHARLESTON, S.C.  – Senior Kelly Kirby hit .556 and recorded a double-double as the Furman volleyball team blanked The Citadel 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-22) Friday night in Charleston.  Kirby led the Paladins with 11 kills and 21 assists, as the team extended its winning streak to six matches with the win.

Furman jumped out to a quick 13-7 lead to open the first set, then extended the lead to 20-12.  Following two Bulldog points, the Paladins went on a 5-2 run to end the set, nailing a 25-16 victory.  

The teams battled through a close second set with The Citadel taking a 15-14 lead before the Paladins scored four-straight points to gain control of the set.  After a Bulldog point cut Furman’s lead to 18-16, the Paladins scored on seven of the last nine points to seal the 25-18 set victory and take a 2-0 lead at the break.

The Paladins led 12-8 in the third set when the Citadel scored four-consecutive points to tie the match at 12-all.  Furman answered with four points of its own to lead 16-12 before the Bulldogs went on a 6-1 run to lead 18-17.  The Paladins tied the match off a kill from senior Alexis Shaffer, then the teams fought through four additional ties to settle in at 22-22.  Furman took advantage of a Bulldog ball handling error for a 23-22 lead, then back-to-back kills from junior Natalie Braun and Shaffer gave the Paladins the 25-22 win.

Braun tallied 20 assists in the match-up, while senior Carolyn Nicoletti led the Paladin defense with 21 digs.  Shaffer hit .389 with five blocks in the victory.

The Citadel (7-20, 0-13 SoCon) was led by Rachael Farrell, who recorded 10 kills and 16 digs.  Alexa Dahlstrom had 14 assists, while Erin Bucherl added 12 assists for the Bulldogs.  

Samford 3, Elon 0

ELON, N.C. --- Samford earned its tenth-consecutive win with a key division victory on the road, sweeping Elon 25-14, 25-14 and 25-20 Friday night.

Samford (24-3, 11-2 SoCon) earns its 11th conference victory of the season, while Elon (16-13, 4-9 SoCon) drops their fourth straight match, falling to 4-9 in conference play.  The Bulldog attack was not particularly strong, only hitting .154, but they held the Phoenix to a -.019 clip, taking advantage of attack errors in key stretches.

Lauren Hutchinson led the attack with nine kills and a .533 hitting percentage, committing only one attack error in 15 attacks.  Casey Garvey put up 32 of the team's 35 assists, bringing her season total to 1,082 and putting her 100 assists shy of the single season top ten assists list at Samford.  Elon out-blocked Samford 9-8, but Samford held the considerable edge in digs, 55-35, with libero Alexis Bauer leading the defensive effort with 17.

The Bulldogs started slow but pulled away in the second half of set one, eventually earning a 25-14 victory.  Tied at 6-6, Samford began to widen the gap as they put down three in a row to jump ahead 9-6 and maintained the three point lead, eventually going up 13-10.  The Bulldogs turned up the heat and an Elon service error helped spur a 7-2 Bulldog run, forcing multiple Phoenix attack errors to pull ahead 20-12.  Elon tacked on two more with Samford adding another, but the Bulldogs didn't waste any more time putting the game away, with four Elon attack errors earning the final four points of the set in Samford's favor to secure the 11-point win.

Yet again in set two, the teams found themselves tied at 6-6 and, again, Samford took control of the set after that point, mounting a 11-4 run, including three kills by Hutchinson, to build a 17-10 lead.  Elon chipped away at the lead, drawing within four, down 15-19, due in part to some Samford errors.  An Elon substitution allowed the Bulldogs a moment to regain their composure and an Elizabeth Neisler kill gave Samford the 20-14 lead and ball possession, which Samford held through a 5-0 run to close out the game.

Elon refused to give up the third set as easily, hanging with Samford every step of the way, but the Bulldogs eventually pulled out a 25-20 victory to complete the sweep.  The first part of the set was again tightly contested, seeing Samford maintain a slim lead before Elon came back to tie it up at 10-10.  Later, tied at 12-12, Samford looked to pull away with a 5-2 run but the Phoenix answered with two in a row to draw within one, down 16-17.  The teams traded points evenly, eventually giving Samford a one-point lead up 21-20.  Similar to the previous sets, the Bulldogs came alive in the closing portion of the set, charging to a win behind four unanswered points, including three combined kills by the freshmen duo of Michaela Reesor and Chelsi Carter, sealing the five-point win and the sweep.

 

Davidson 3, Appalachian State 2

BOONE, N.C. --Caroline Brown posted a team-high 18 kills, and Davidson had 14 blocks as a team to earn a 3-2 (25-22, 25-21, 9-25, 18-25, 15-10) Southern Conference volleyball victory at Appalachian State Friday night.

Davidson improves to 15-11 overall, 5-8 in the league with the win, while the Mountaineers slip to 18-9 overall and 10-3 in the conference.

Molly Crenshaw recorded 27 digs for the OCats, and Ariel Ley registered 44 assists, 10 digs and four blocks. Tindall Sewell had six blocks and seven kills, and Christine Perzinski added eight kills and 11 digs. Brown also had seven digs and four blocks.

Alison Blasingame recorded a match-high 21 kills for the Mountaineers, and Meghann Forshey recorded 18.  Kelly Rhein posted 14 kills and 14 digs.

Appalachian State erased a 2-0 lead to force a fifth set, and with the score tied 5-5 in the final frame, a Perzinski kill sparked a 4-0 run for the Wildcats as they opened a 9-5 lead. Ley had a solo block, and Brown posted a kill during the run.

Consecutive kills from Forshey trimmed the margin to 12-10, but Perzinski and Sewell posted kills, and Megan Chamberlin ended the match with an ace.

With the OCats leading 23-22, Sewell put down a kill, and the Mountaineers had a hitting error as Davidson won the first set. Sewell sparked a 3-0 Davidson run in the second set with a kill and a block, which turned a one-point lead into a 21-17 cushion. Leading 22-20, Brown helped finish the job with a kill and an ace as Davidson went ahead 2-0 in the match.

The Mountaineers came roaring back in the third set and won it 25-9. Then leading 4-3 in the fourth, Appalachian State went on an 11-3 run en route to a 25-18 margin.

 

UNCG 3, Chattanooga 0

GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG rallied late to win the first set 26-24 before taking the final two sets in easier fashion as the Spartans defeated Chattanooga, 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-13), on Friday evening in Fleming Gymnasium.

Ariel Nemanled the Spartans (15-14, 7-6 Southern Conference) with 11 kills and no errors to post a .478 hitting percentage. Karrian Chambers nearly had a double-double as she recorded 12 kills and nine digs, while Kellie Orewiler had a match-high 23 digs.

The Mocs (5-23, 3-10 SoCon) were paced by Jennifer Kuroski and Heather Parman who each had 11 kills. Melissa Green added a team-high 17 digs.

Chattanooga took control early in the first set as it used a 6-0 run to go ahead 13-7. The Spartans continued to chip away at the Mocs lead, but still trailed 23-21 late in the set.

UNCG would take the next three points to have set point at 24-23 after a kill by Chambers, but Chattanooga called a timeout and won the ensuing point to tie the set at 24. After another Chambers kill gave the Spartans their second set point, Morgan Freeman and Ariel Newman came up with a big block to win the set, 26-24.

The Spartans trailed 3-1 to begin the second set before taking the lead for good by going on a 9-3 run to open up at 10-6 advantage. UNCG would lead by as many as eight in the set at 20-12 en route to winning the set, 25-20, to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.

UNCG was able to carry that momentum into the final set as they led the entire way. The Spartans took a commanding 17-5 lead after a kill by Chambers before cruising to win the set, 25-13.