College of Charleston 3, Charleston Southern 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston volleyball continued its successful homestand by sweeping the visiting Charleston Southern Buccaneers (25-20, 25-16, 25-16) in mid-week, non-conference action at TD Arena.
The Cougars (8-7) took their second sweep of the season behind the strong play of freshman Sloane White, who tallied 11 kills. Seniors Elyse Chubb and Sarah Havel combined for 12 kills and six total blocks, while junior Kelly Kolich landed seven kills. The College of Charleston defense held CSU to just a .043 attacking percentage while totaling seven blocks and 47 digs.
The visiting Buccaneers (3-12) were led by Wynter Davis who hit a team-high .286 while notching six kills. Ashley Higginbothem led Charleston Southern with 16 digs.
Sophomores Emily Schultz and Kerstin Koehler both landed their first kills of the season, while freshman Catey Warren saw action for the second time this season, registering one kill. Sophomore Taeler Davis came in at setter in the second and third sets, while Kallie McKown moved to the back row.
College of Charleston broke open a one-point game midway through the first set, going from 10-9 to 20-12. White notched five kills and three total blocks in the set, while Emily Shelton and Andi Zbojniewicz both tallied five digs. The Buccaneers made a late rally, scoring seven points in a row on the Cougars' set point, however, Charleston eventually won 25-20.
White continued her strong play in the second set, registering an attack percentage of .714 as she landed five kills on seven attempts with no errors. The Cougars jumped out to a 6-1 advantage after two straight service aces from Zbojniewicz. CSU rallied to make the score 9-6, but College of Charleston rolled again on the serve of White and Theesfeld, extending the lead to 16-7. College of Charleston eventually won, 25-16.
Davis continued her strong setting in the third set, tallying 10 assists while multiple Cougars contributed to the offensive effort. Nine different players recorded kills for College of Charleston as the Cougars rolled to another 25-16 set win. College of Charleston hit .205 in the final game, while CSU managed just .056.
Appalachian State 3, Wake Forest 0
BOONE, N.C. - Anna Wagner notched her 10th double-digit kill total of the season as the Appalachian State volleyball team took down its second ACC opponent of the season with a 3-0 win over Wake Forest on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at the Holmes Center.
After a tight battle in the first set of the match, the Mountaineers (8-6) dominated the final two sets to send the Demon Deacons (4-6) back to Winston-Salem with their fourth loss in their past six matches.
The Apps jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in the first set thanks to a service ace from Maggie Seeds and an attack error by Wake Forest. The Mountaineers also found themselves with a 14-11 lead midway through the set, but the Demon Deacons rallied with an 8-3 run to take a 19-7 lead and force an Appalachian timeout.
ASU came out of the break with three-straight points to tie the match at 20-20 before calling another timeout after falling behind 22-20. Wagner would help the Apps rally by recording three of Appalachian's final five points en route to a 25-22 set win.
The match would be all Mountaineers from there as the squad jumped out to a 15-9 lead in the second set and led by as many as seven (22-15) late in the set on its way to a 25-16 set victory. Meghann Forshey recorded four of the Apps' final five points in the second set.
In the third and final set of the evening, ASU trailed 5-3 before reeling off seven-straight points, four of which came from Wagner, to take a 10-5 lead it would never relinquish.
The Mountaineers led by as many as nine points on two separate occasions in the late stages of the third set as they finished off Wake Forest with a 25-18 set win.
Wagner led the Apps with 18 kills while hitting .385 and picking up 14 digs on the evening. Forshey and Kelly Rhein each posted 10 kills while Courtney Rhein led all players with 19 digs.
As a team, Appalachian hit .323 while holding the Demon Deacons to a .204 hitting percentage. Carlin Salmon paced Wake Forest with 11 kills but ASU was able to force the Demon Deacons' top player into four attack errors. Both teams finished with four blocks.
The Citadel 3, Francis Marion 2
Charleston, S.C. - The Citadel Volleyball team rallied from down two sets to one to prevail with a five-set victory over Francis Marion by scores of 25-21, 22-25, 23-25, 25-18 and 15-12 at McAlister Field House on Tuesday evening. The Bulldogs offensive attack was guided by four players who finished with double-digit kills, including by Kaona Mercer (17), Rachael Farrell (14), Cassie Uribe (14) and Amanda Rudnik (13).
The Citadel capitalized on 70 kills and a .278 attack percentage, due in large part to Uribe (.500), Rudnik (.476) and Farrell (.393) closing with individual attack percentages of better than .300 in the match. Defensively, the Cadets were paced by Rudnik's 11 digs, who completed the first double-double performance (13 kills, 11 digs) of her career. Also making their defensive presence known were Farrell, Mercer and Emily Dalton, with eight digs respectively. Teammate Alexa Dahlstrom established a new personal-high, dishing out 59 assists, as The Citadel moved to 6-5 overall following the victory.
Francis Marion was led by the performance of Ashlee Crook who posted a match-high 19 kills to go along with nine digs. She was joined up front by the combination of Danielle Parker (14 kills) and Amanda Mitchell (10 kills). Together they anchored a unit that finished with 62 kills and a .288 attack percentage. Defensive specialist Hallie Legg finished with 20 kills, while setter Nicole Bennett handed out 51 assists. The Patriots fell to 4-6 on the season.
The Bulldogs grabbed an early 6-3 lead in the opening set on a kill by Farrell before Francis Marion stormed back to knot the game at 10-10. The two teams battled through six ties to reach a 20-20 tie before a kill by Dalton gave The Citadel a slight one-point edge. Following Uribe's second kills of the set, Francis Marion regrouped with a timeout and collected its 21st point. However, kills by Dahlstrom and Uribe down the stretch proved to be the difference in the 25-21 win.
The back-and-forth affair continued in the second set with neither team greater than a two-point advantage until a Dahlstrom service ace pushed the lead to 13-10. She tacked on two more service aces to establish a five-point advantage, before a kill by Megan Mooney shifted momentum in the favor of Francis Marion. Trailing 19-15, the Patriots took advantage of kills by Nicole Bennett and Paige Perreault to pull within two of the lead. Francis Marion then turned to Mooney's service game to keep them in the match, and in the process collected kills by Parker to take a 21-20 lead. The game reached a final 22-22 tie before kills by Crook and Parker gave the Patriots a three-point victory.
The Citadel grabbed an early lead in the third set behind Dalton, jumping out to an eventual 9-3 lead on a series of kills by Mercer and Uribe, forcing a Francis Marion timeout. Two kills by Farrell combined with four errors by the Patriots allowed the Dogs to build a 19-14 advantage. Francis Marion called its second timeout of the game and managed to score the next four straight points to and cut the lead to one, 19-18. The Citadel pushed the score to 23-21 before a kill by Crook allowed Bennett to serve for the tie. The Patriots took advantage of four Cadet errors to close out the 25-23 win.
The Bulldogs responded to the challenge in the fourth set, taking an early 6-1 lead on a powerful kill by Uribe on a pass from Farrell. The lead ballooned to six points on two separate occasions, following kills by Rudnik, as the Dogs took a 13-7 lead. Eight kills in the final 12 points, including two each from Mercer and teammate Lauren Hurt proved to be the difference in the 25-18 set victory.
The teams battled to a 4-4 tie early in the fifth set before a series of kills by Uribe, Rudnik and Farrell provided an 8-4 cushion. The Citadel maintained its slim lead, which was at one point sliced to 10-9, behind a pair of kills by Rudnik. The Bulldogs took advantage of a Uribe kill and four Patriot errors to close out the match 15-12.
Chattanooga 3, Alabama A&M 0
NORMAL, Ala. - The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team rode the strong attack of junior right side Christina Teter as the team snapped an 11-match losing streak with a sweep at Alabama A&M (4-14), 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-23) on Tuesday night. The Signal Mountain, Tenn., native posted a season-high 15 kills and compiled a .737 hitting percentage for the Mocs (2-11).
Adding 12 kills was junior outside Heather Parman with sophomore setter Bridget Camacho running the offense totaling a match-best 33 assists. Sophomore outside Jennifer Kuroski registered five kills and sophomore Aneisha Christie and freshman Jessi Blacksstock contributed four each.
Chattanooga's defensive effort was led by junior libero Paula Passmore with a match-high 16 digs and freshman Melissa Green (Boca Raton, Fla.) registered six on the night.
Alabama A&M was paced by Clairissa Moore with 12 kills along with Ashley Forman with 26 assists.
Audrey Harris recorded 12 digs against the Mocs in a match that saw 16 ties and nine lead changes.
The Mocs came out firing on offense grabbing a 7-3 lead on two kills each by Parman and Teter to set the tone. Alabama A&M fought back to knot the match at 13 and the teams would trade points until Chattanooga pulled ahead 21-18. Blackstock aided the Mocs in closing out the set, 25-21, with two kills and a block assisted with Christie.
The Mocs converted on 17 kills and .238 attacking percentage during the set, while Passmore was all over the court digging up nine attacks.
The second set began as the two squads traded the first 20 points until Green helped Chattanooga on the service line to gain a 13-10 advantage. Just like the first set, the Lady Bulldogs tied the frame at 13.
Once again, Chattanooga stretched its lead to four towards the end of the set, 22-18 on three-straight kills by Teter, Kuroski and Christie. The Mocs ended the frame notching a 25-20 win and 2-0 lead in a match for the first time this season.
Coming out of the intermission, the Lady Bulldogs started with a 4-2 advantage before Blackstock entered the service area and the Mocs took a 12-4 advantage. The Mocs posted two kills by Teter and Parman, while Camacho added one during the run.
Chattanooga took a 16-10 advantage before Alabama A&M cut the lead to three at 20-17. The Lady Bulldogs would eventually come within one at 24-23, but a kill by Teter ended the match.