College of Charleston 3, Samford 0

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The excitement radiated from the blocks at the middle of the net to the end of the bench and up to the rafters of TD Arena as the College of Charleston swept SoCon foe Samford 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-16) on Friday night.

The sweep avenged Samford’s 3-0 win over College of Charleston in last season’s SoCon Championship title match, held at Samford’s Hanna Arena. College of Charleston (14-6, 6-1) snapped Samford’s (14-7, 6-1) SoCon winning streak which had reached nine matches dating back to last season.

The win was decided by an all-around inspirational performance from the Cougars on offense, defense and in support from the bench. College of Charleston held a big edge in hitting percentage, racking up 41 kills with just 12 errors for a .309 mark while holding Samford to just .046. The Cougars outdug the Bulldogs 51-38, and held all Samford players to single digits in kills.

Darcy Dorton and Melissa Morello shared the offensive spotlight for CofC as the two racked up 12 and 11 kills, respectively, while combining for 19 digs and four blocks. Kerstin Koehler hit a sparkling .429 with seven kills while Sloane White made six kills and Emily Neideffer and had five to go with three blocks.

Setter Taeler Davis tied a season high for most assists in a three-set match with 37 successful sets. Senior Emily Shelton made 16 digs, tied for her season high in a three-set match.

Samford’s Michaela Reesor had nine kills, but also committed seven errors for a hitting mark of .065. Katie Murphy supplied eight kills from the middle, and Lauren Hutchinson had a hand in five blocks, but it wasn’t enough to slow down the Cougar attack.

College of Charleston grabbed momentum early in the first set with a 6-0 run that turned an 8-7 deficit into a 13-8 lead. The Bulldogs clawed back to a two-point deficit at 16-14, but the Cougars came out strong from a timeout to sprint to a 21-15 lead after a Morello kill. Samford scored two points on CofC’s set point but Dorton put the first set away with a kill, 25-18.

The second set played out nearly identically to the first. Both teams battled to a 7-7 tie before the Cougars scored nine of the next 12 points to build a 16-10 advantage.  Samford fought back yet again to get to 17-14, but Morello and Dorton quickly deflated the visitors’ momentum with two kills. Four Samford attack errors in the final six points gave Charleston a 25-18 set two win.

The senior-laden Bulldogs looked poised to fight on past the third set as they again tied the score in the early going at nine. But for the third and final time, College of Charleston went on a 9-1 run to excite the crowd and put the match out of reach. A kill from White unleashed the crowd’s celebration as CofC took the third set, 25-16.

Furman 3, Western Carolina 0

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Senior Caroline Adams hit .455 with 11 kills to lead the Furman volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-16) win over Western Carolina Friday night at Alley Gymnasium in Greenville, S.C.

The teams were knotted at seven in the opening set when the Paladins put together three-straight points for a 10-7 lead.  Western Carolina came within one of Furman at 11-10 before the Paladins went on a 10-1 run fueled by powerful serves from Adams and freshman Caitlyn Scioscia and four kills from junior Christina Dorismond to gain control of the set, taking a 25-15 victory.

Following a 2-2 tie in set two, the Paladins put together an 8-2 run to build a 10-5 advantage.  Furman led by six at 17-11, but Western Carolina put together three-consecutive points to cut the lead to three at 17-14.  The Paladins answered with a 5-1 stretch to build a 22-15 advantage, as the team took a 25-18 win to lead 2-0 at the break.

The Catamounts came out strong to open set three, establishing an 8-5 lead before Furman capitalized off three consecutive Western Carolina errors to tie the set.  Up by one at 13-12, the Paladins won six of the next eight points for a 19-14 advantage then completed the victory with a 6-2 run to end the match.

Senior Natalie Braun posted a team-high 13 kills and added nine digs for Furman, while Dorismond hit .421 and contributed nine kills.  Libero Elle Ross paced the Paladin defense with 11 digs, and junior Amanda Komisarow collected nine digs.  Freshman Jo Wilks led Furman with 39 assists in the victory.

Western Carolina (7-15, 3-4 SoCon) was led by Abbey Scroggins, who hit.700 with eight kills.  Caitlin Piechota recorded 10 digs, and Tina Nazario had 26 assists.

Wofford 3, Appalachian State 0

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Despite an impressive performance from Lauren Gray in her return from an ankle injury, Appalachian State University volleyball was unable to hold off Southern Conference foe Wofford in a 3-0 loss on Friday at Benjamin Johnson Arena.

The Mountaineers (5-16, 1-6 SoCon) were unable to stay with the Terriers (11-8, 2-5) after a competitive first set that saw 12 ties and four lead changes as Wofford seized momentum and dominated the final two sets.

Neither team could find separation early in the first set until the Terriers forced an Appalachian timeout with a late 3-0 run that made the score 18-15. The Apps would score out of the break, but could not regain the lead as Wofford snagged a 25-20 first-set win.

The Terriers jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead in the second set and never trailed as they dominated throughout in a 25-16 second-set win.

The third and final set of the night saw App State jump out to a 6-2 lead before Wofford called a timeout to stem the tide, but it would prove to be a futile effort as the Mountaineers were able to extend their lead to as many as six points (12-6).

Despite grabbing all the momentum, Appalachian was unable to hold on as the Terriers reeled off a late 6-0 run to take a 21-17 lead en route to a 25-21 third-set win and a match victory.

Gray paced the Mountaineers with 11 kills while hitting a blistering .500 on the attack. Dalton Tolliver also finished in double figures with 10 kills. Lauren Brown tallied a team-best 24 assists in the contest while Courtney Rhein led all players with 21 digs.

Wofford was led on offense by Amanda Liguori’s 13 kills while Bekah Dorsey led all players with 32 assists. The Terriers hit .231 on the attack while limiting App State to .123 and finished with 10 total blocks to Appalachian’s four.

Elon 3, Davidson 1

DAVIDSON, N.C. – After dropping the first set, the Elon volleyball team came back to win three straight and take a 3-1 (18-25, 29-27, 27-25, 25-10) win over Davidson tonight, Oct. 12. The victory marked the first for the Phoenix (10-12, 3-4 SoCon) over the Wildcats (7-10, 3-4) in Belk Arena since 2007.

Freshman Megan Gravley finished with 15 kills and sophomore Kris Harris tallied 11. Sophomore Chanelle Smith claimed her fourth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 16 digs.

On defense, senior Celia Rose Eddy recorded a career-high nine blocks, while Harris finished the night with four. Senior Ali Deatsch tallied 24 digs and freshman Chelsea Rafetto had a career-high 16 digs.

Davidson jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set before kills by Gravley and Ana Nicksic and an ace by Harris cut the deficit to two, 6-4. The Wildcats regained a five-point advantage, 10-5, but the Phoenix whittled away at the Davidson lead and pulled back within two, 14-12, after back-to-back kills by C. Smith and Rafetto. With Davidson leading, 22-15, kills by Eddy and C. Smith and an ace by Maggie Reichard helped the Phoenix to 3-1 run. However, the Wildcats were able to hold on and take the set, 25-18.

The Wildcats took another lead to start the second, 3-0, but a block by Eddy and Gravley helped Elon score three unanswered to tie the set. Down by five, 15-10, the maroon and gold then went on a 7-3 run with kills by Gravley, Eddy, Alli Nogi and Harris, a block by Eddy and Gravley and an ace by Deatsch to pull within one, 18-17, and force a Davidson timeout. With the Wildcats holding a three-point advantage, 22-19, Elon scored three straight off a kill by Smith and a block and a kill by Gravley to tie the set at 22-all. The Wildcats and Phoenix traded points from there with Davidson earning set point first, 24-23. A kill by Gravley and a block by Eddy and Nogi put Elon at set point, 25-24. The score reached three more ties before an ace by Rafetto gave the Phoenix a 29-27 victory.

The Phoenix used the momentum from the second-set win to take a 6-2 lead in the third with the help of three kills from Gravley. A block by Eddy and Nogi and a kill by Eddy helped Elon take a five-point advantage, 8-3, before the Wildcats tied the set at 10-all. With the maroon and gold leading by two, 14-12, Davidson managed an 8-3 run to take the lead by three, 20-17. A kill by Rafetto tied the set at 23-all before the Wildcats claimed the next point to reach set point. The Phoenix stopped Davidson and a kill by Harris and a block by Nicksic and Eddy gave Elon the 27-25 win and a 2-1 match lead.

With the fourth set tied at six-all, the Phoenix scored five unanswered off kills by Danielle Smith, Eddy and C. Smith, a block by Eddy and D. Smith and an ace by Reichard to go up 11-6. After a Davidson point to make it 11-7 in favor of the maroon and gold, Elon went on a 6-0 run with kills and a block by Harris and D. Smith and back-to-back kills by C. Smith to take an 11-point advantage, 18-7. The Phoenix would take seven of the final 10 points to win the set, 25-10, and the match.