Furman 3, Wofford 0

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Senior Chandler Ambrester recorded 16 kills to lead the Furman volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-21) victory over Wofford in Spartanburg Tuesday night.

The Paladins jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the opening set and maintained a five-point advantage until the Terriers cut the deficit to 14-12 following a kill by Amanda Liguori.  Furman then reeled off four-straight points, including back-to-back kills from senior Caroline Adams, to seemingly have the set in hand at 18-12 and eventually pushed the lead to 23-15 before Wofford answered with an 8-1 run to come within one point at 24-23.  A final kill from Ambrester sealed the 25-23 set victory for the Paladins.

Following a 3-3 tie at the start of set two, Furman scored four-straight to gain control of the set.  The Paladins maintained a slight lead at 19-15 before Wofford scored three-straight winners to bring the deficit to one point.  Furman responded by scoring six of the set’s last seven points for a 25-19 win to lead 2-0 at the break.

The Paladins kept a one to two point lead at the beginning of the third set before the Terriers tied the match at 11-all.  Furman put together a 6-3 run and maintained a slight lead at 18-16 before a Braun service ace completed a 5-1 Paladin streak to push Furman ahead, 23-17.  Wofford came within three points at 23-20, then a Terrier service error gave the Paladins match point.  Wendy Burnett notched a kill to keep Wofford in the match, but Adams recorded a final kill to give Furman a 25-21 set win.

Braun tallied a double-double, her 12th of the season, after posting 13 kills and 12 digs in the match-up.  Adams hit a team-high .583 with eight kills and two blocks, and junior Christina Dorismond also contributed eight kills.  Freshman Jo Wilks led the Paladins with 42 assists, while fellow rookie Caitlyn Scioscia paced Furman with 14 digs.  Junior Elle Ross added 13 digs in the victory.

Liguori led Wofford (9-7, 0-4 SoCon) with 11 kills, and Bekah Dorsey notched a team-high 24 assists.  Reagan Styles paced the Terrier defense with 12 digs.

Furman (13-5, 2-2 SoCon) hits the road this weekend for two key SoCon matches.  The Paladins will play at The Citadel Saturday at 6 p.m. then face the College of Charleston Sunday at 2 p.m.

College of Charleston 3, Coastal Carolina 1

CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston outlasted Coastal Carolina, 3-1 (26-24, 17-25, 25-19, 25-23), in non-conference volleyball action at TD Arena on Tuesday night.

The Cougars (12-5, 4-0) won their sixth straight match despite only hitting .189 with 24 attacking errors. Coastal Carolina (5-9, 3-1) could not overcome 12 service errors as the squad surrendered late leads in both the first and fourth sets.

The Chanticleers ultimately made more kills (57-52) and blocks (9-6) than the Cougars, but strong CofC efforts at the end of sets proved to be the difference.

Junior Emily Neideffer had a strong effort as she tied her career high with 14 kills and a .423 attack percentage. She also had a hand in three of the Cougars’ six team blocks.

Melissa Morello (13) and Darcy Dorton (13) each tallied double-digits in kills for the eighth-straight match in which they’ve appeared in at least three sets.

Sloane White registered six kills and Catey Warren came off the bench to make three kills and a big block. Defensively, Emily Shelton paced CofC with 21 digs and Morello set a new career high with 17 digs for her third double-double of the season. Dorton also registered a double-double with 15 digs, marking her team-best seventh double-double this year.

Coastal Carolina was led by Gabriella Horvath who landed a match-high 18 kills. Kindra Bailey made 14 kills and hit .565 for the Chanticleers.

CCU led for most of the first set, allowing CofC runs to tie the game and then making runs to re-extend the lead. The Chanticleers seemed to be in control with a 23-19 lead until a Morello kill and three consecutive errors from Meghan Laffin, including a CofC block from Kari Fidelholtz and Neideffer, tied the score at 23. Bailey landed a kill to give CCU set point, but a Neideffer kill, an error by Laffin and a Dorton kill secured the 26-24 CofC victory.

In the second set, Coastal broke open a tie at 15 with a 10-2 run that ended with a 25-17 set victory and a tied match at the break. The Chanticleers hit .316 in the second set and held CofC to just .114.

CofC responded with a dominant effort in the third set, hitting .379 and leading the entire way after a 7-7 tie. Dorton made six kills with only one error during the set, and the Cougars out-dug CCU 15-9 and were able to sideout 75% of the time, cutting short nearly all Chanticleers runs. CofC eventually secured a 25-19 set victory.

Things looked bleak for the Cougars in the fourth set when Coastal Carolina jumped out to an 8-1 lead. CofC slowly chipped away and finally tied the score at 18 after a 4-1 run. The teams traded points off kills until two CCU service errors and a Shelton ace gave the Cougars set point at 24-22. Horvath tallied one more kill, but Neideffer put the match away with a swing from the middle, putting CofC up 25-23.

College of Charleston will get back into the SoCon slate this weekend with home matches against Wofford and Furman on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.