Georgia Southern 3, Samford 2

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Meredith Paskert recorded a career high 22 kills, and Georgia Southern overcame a 2-0 deficit in the match to take a 3-2 (16-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-8) Southern Conference volleyball victory over defending league champion and North Division leader Samford Saturday afternoon.

It was the Eagles’ second consecutive five-set win after dropping their previous eight straight five-set affairs. The victory was also the 99th for head coach Chad Callihan in his five-year tenure at Georgia Southern.

Moriah Bellissimo added 10 kills and 11 digs for the Eagles (17-6, 8-1 SoCon), and Nicole Jeschelnik tallied eight kills and 19 digs. Crysten Curry finished with seven kills and seven blocks, and Kate Van Dyke had 47 assists, 11 digs and five kills. Alexandra Beecher collected 17 digs.

Michaela Reesnor finished with 18 kills and 16 digs to lead Samford (15-8, 7-2), and Katie Murphy finished with 17 kills. Elizabeth Neisler had 12 kills, and Casey Garvey finished with 53 assists.

With the match tied 2-2, the Eagles took a 6-5 lead in the fifth set on a kill by Kym Coley. Beecher then served for seven straight GSU points to open a 13-5 advantage. Paskert had two kills during the run, while Curry and Van Dyke each posted one. The Bulldogs trimmed the margin to 14-8, but another Paskert kill off a Van Dyke assist ended the match.

Down 2-0 in the match and facing a six-point deficit in the third set, the Eagles used an 8-2 run to tie the score at 17-17 at get back in the match. Paskert had two kills in the run, and the Eagles got the last three points on Jeschelnik’s serve. The Bulldogs pushed ahead for a 20-17 lead, but Paskert answered with consecutive kills and Curry and Van Dyke combined for a block to tie the score. The Eagles finished out the set on 5-1 run, with Paskert getting a kill and Curry and Bellissimo posting a block, forcing a fourth game.

A Paskert kill broke a 20-20 tie in the fourth set, and Bellissimo and Curry combined for a block to give the Eagles a two-point edge. Neisler got a kill for the Bulldogs, but Curry and Jeschelnik made the score 23-21 with a block. Neisler and Jeschelnik traded kills before Garvey’s kill made the score 24-23 in favor of the Eagles. Samford served and got the ball back with a chance to tie, but Reesnor committed a hitting error, sending the match to a fifth set.

Elon 3, Furman 1

ELON, N.C. – Kris Harris hit .500 with 17 kills as Elon handed Furman a 3-1 (17-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20) loss to snap the Paladins’ six-match winning streak Saturday at Alumni Gym in Elon, N.C.

Following a 9-9 tie in set one, the Paladins went on a 12-2 run to open up the set.  The Phoenix scored on two-straight points, but Furman senior Christina Curry answered with a kill, then the Paladins took advantage of an Elon attack error to maintain control of the set en route to a 25-17 victory.

Set two proved to belong to Elon, as the Phoenix scored eight unanswered points for an early 13-4 lead.  The Paladins cut the lead to four at 17-13 and remained within four points at 22-18, but Elon took advantage of a Paladin service error and ball handling error to hold set point.  A kill from Megan Gravley gave the Phoenix a 25-18 set win and tied the match at 1-1 at the break.

The teams were knotted at four to open set three before Elon won five of the next seven points to begin to pull away.  Furman stayed within three points of the Phoenix at 16-13, but a 6-3 Elon run gave the Phoenix a 22-15 advantage.  The Paladins could come no closer, as a 25-18 win gave Elon a 2-1 set lead.

After seven ties in the fourth set, Elon broke open a 12-12 tie with a 9-1 scoring spree.  The Phoenix led 23-16 before Furman won four out of the next five points to cut the lead to 24-20, but a final kill from Gravley sealed the 25-20 win.

Furman senior Chandler Ambrester recorded her second-straight double-double, leading the Paladins with 17 kills and 16 digs.  Junior Christina Dorismond posted a team-high .556 attack percentage and notched 15 kills and two blocks.  Curry tallied 10 kills, while junior libero Elle Ross collected 11 digs.  Freshman Jo Wilks paced the Paladins with 45 assists in the match-up.

Gravley added 16 kills for Elon (12-13, 5-5 SoCon), and Ali Deatsch led the Phoenis with 13 digs.  Ana Nicksic posted 49 assists for Elon in the win.

UNCG 3, Wofford 0

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG volleyball team put forth perhaps its most impressive performance of the season Saturday night in Fleming Gymnasium, making quick work of Wofford 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-12) in a Southern Conference matchup. The sweep is the team’s first in league play this season and first for the Spartans since a 3-0 victory against Chattanooga at home Nov. 4, 2011.

With the victory, Nicholas increased his career win total to 195 and his UNCG tally to 65 – the second-most wins by a coach in program history.

The Spartans (11-11, 5-5 SoCon) produced their second-highest hitting mark of the season against the Terriers (12-10, 3-7 SoCon), firing at a .337 clip with 41 kills against just nine errors. UNCG hit and impressive .600 in the second set to help its cause offensively. It was a dominant performance for the Spartans in nearly every statistical category as UNCG held the upper hand in kills (41-30), hitting percentage (.337-.108), assists (39-25), service aces (4-1), digs (50-40) and total blocks (7.5-4.0). The Spartans also sided out at 71 percent, 85 percent in the second set, while limiting the visitors to just 45 percent.

With 38 assists in the match, senior setter Ari Lysacek moved into sole possession of fourth place on the UNCG career ledger as she now owns 3,153. She also posted three digs and two blocks assists in the three sets.

Leading the offensive charge was a pair of juniors in Olivia Humphries and Karrian Chambers who both recorded a match-high 14. They also hit for a high percentage with Humphries firing at .414 and Chambers checking in at .344. Their classmate, Morgan Freeman, also enjoyed a solid effort with nine kills and a .467 hitting percentage. The trio made just seven errors among them.

Defensively, the Spartans’ liberos, junior Kellie Orewiler and freshman Katherine Santiago, teamed up to post 31 of UNCG’s 50 digs. Orewiler contributed 17 while Santiago chipped in the other 14. At the net, freshman Julia Westerbur racked up four blocks (three assists) and recorded two kills on three attempts without making an error.

Wofford opened up a 4-2 lead in the first set when Wendy Burnett put down a kill. The Terriers would keep the two-point cushion for a while, but with the score 8-6, Chambers scored and Wofford committed an attacking error to pull the teams even. A pair of kills by Burnett capped a modest 3-0 run and pushed the Terriers in front 11-8 before UNCG ripped off a 6-3 run to get itself back in the set.

The teams traded points for a while until, with the score 16-16, the Spartans scored five of the next seven points to take control. Wofford was forced to take a timeout trailing 21-18 and made good on the call, pulling to within 22-21 on an Amanda Liguori kill. The Terriers did themselves no favors out of the timeout, committing a service error and a pair of attacking miscues to give UNCG the set by a 25-21 score.

It was tight second set at the beginning as the squads played to a 10-10 deadlock. It was the Spartans who wrestled control away from there as a Chambers kill and three-straight Wofford attacking errors allowed UNCG to take a 14-10 advantage. It was all Spartans from there as UNCG out-scored the Terriers 11-4 the remainder of the set, heading into the intermission with a 2-0 lead for the first time since the SoCon opener at Elon.

The Spartans came out on fire in the third set, all but ending the match with a 12-1 run to begin the frame. UNCG posted nine kills from three different players during the run. The Spartans took leads of 16-4 and 21-10 before closing out the match with a 25-12 third set decision.

Appalachian State 3, The Citadel 1

BOONE, N.C. – Lindsey Sauls tallied 14 kills and a career-high 18 digs to lead Appalachian State University volleyball to a 3-1 Southern Conference win over The Citadel on Saturday at the Holmes Center.

The Mountaineers (6-18, 2-8 SoCon) snapped a six-match losing streak as they downed the Bulldogs (4-22, 0-10) for the fourth-straight time.

App State dominated the match early on with victories in each of the first two sets. The Apps never trailed in the first set en route to a 25-13 victory and fell behind just once, on the initial two points, in the second set as they picked up a 25-14 win.

The Citadel managed to bounce back in the third set with a 7-1 mid set run that helped propel it to a 25-17 third-set victory.

The Mountaineers bounced back, however, with a 25-19 fourth-set win to take the match by a 3-1 final. It was Appalachian’s first win since a 3-1 win over Elon on Sept. 29 and pushed it to 3-3 at home this season.

Sauls and Lauren Gray finished as the team leaders with 14 kills each while Jessica Eley finished with eight kills and five block assists. Lauren Brown notched a match-high 34 assists and Courtney Rhein tallied 24 digs.

The Citadel was paced by Ise d’Angelo’s 14 kills on offense. The Bulldogs picked up four block assists from Jessica Maxwell and 17 dugs from Erin Bucheri.

Appalachian dominated the box score, outhitting the Bulldogs .271 to .158 on the attack and recording 10 blocks to The Citadel’s six. The Mountaineers hit better than .310 in each set they won, including a blistering .400 in the fourth and final set.

Chattanooga 3, Davidson 1

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.-- The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team (10-14, 4-5 SoCon) picked up its eighth home win of the 2012 season Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 win over Davidson (8-11, 4-5 SoCon) at Maclellan Gym to open up a two-match homestand.

The freshman trio of Briana Reid, Lauren Gainer and Julimar Alvarado combined for 32 of the Mocs' 53 kills against the Wildcats. Reid led the team with 12 kills as Alvarado and Gainer each tallied 10 kills. Senior Christina Teter and freshman Sarah Batterton followed closely behind with nine and eight, respectively.

Four Mocs registered double-digits in digs. Senior Paula Passmore led UTC with 28, Reid finished with 12, freshman Catherine Chason had 11, and junior setter Bridget Camacho registered a double-double with 14 digs and 35 assists. 

Chattanooga hit a match-best .333 in the first set, topping the Wildcats 25-18. Davidson was allowed to score back-to-back just three times during the set while Chattanooga amassed two four-point runs, and the second frame was much of the same.

The Mocs cut the second stanza a lot closer than the first, but were able to escape trouble with a 25-23 victory. UTC saw a three-point lead dwindle away near the end of the set as Davidson tied the game a 23-23. A kill from Gainer put the Mocs back on top and an attacking error from Davidson's Hannah Rau decided the set, sending Chattanooga to the locker room with a 2-0 advantage.

The Wildcats shocked the Mocs in the third set, however, taking a 25-21 decision over UTC. Chattanooga was held to a match-worst .056 in the game while Davidson hit .164 en route to the set win, but the Mocs battled back in the fourth set to take a 25-17 win in the frame and a 3-1 match win. An 18-16 advantage for UTC late in the match, Chattanooga went on a 7-1 rampage against the Wildcats to slam the door shut on the match.