College of Charleston 3, Wofford 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Senior libero Emily Shelton recorded 16 digs to make her just the second player in CofC history to reach 2,000 digs for her career as College of Charleston swept Wofford, 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-22) on Friday night.
The win gave the Cougars their 20th win of the season (20-7, 11-2) as CofC moved into a half-game out of first place in the SoCon South Division.
Currently ranked third in the league in digs, Shelton now has 2,005 career digs putting her second all-time in school history behind Marie Dobrenz (2,480) who is on the CofC Volleyball Wall of Fame.
Darcy Dorton led the offensive attack with 14 kills and eight digs and Melissa Morello notched 11 kills and seven assists. Sloane White hit .700 on the match with seven kills on 10 attempts and no errors.
Kerstin Koehler made three blocks and six kills, while Taeler Davis tallied 38 assists and a career-high five service aces.
The Cougars hit .282 as a team and held the Terriers to a .210 hitting percentage. Both teams notched six blocks, but the Cougars outdug Wofford 44-37.
Wofford was led by Amanda Liguori's 11 kills and Wendy Burnett's 10 kills. Reagan Styles made a match-high 16 digs.
College of Charleston broke open the first set with a 6-0 run, including four straight service aces from Davis, to build an 11-5 lead. The Cougars used another 6-0 run a few points later to extend the lead to 17-7 and keep Wofford at bay. Two Terrier attack errors ended the set at 25-16 for the Cougars. The visitors hit .290 and held Wofford to just .125. Shelton made six digs and Morello led the offensive effort with four kills, four digs and a block.
Wofford never led in the second set, but a .355 hitting mark kept the Terriers within three or four points for the entire frame. Kills from White and Morello gave the Cougars set point at 24-20. However, Wofford scored the next three points to bring the set to a tense 24-23 score. Dorton connected during the next point for her fifth kill of the set to end the Terrier threat and give CofC a 25-23 win.
The third set was close throughout as Wofford cut a 21-17 Cougar lead to 21-20 after a Liguori kill. Morello and Dorton notched the next two kills and Koehler finished the set and the match for the Cougars with a kill, 25-22. CofC's defense held Wofford to .167 hitting in the final set.
Furman 3, The Citadel 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Senior Chandler Ambrester hit .432 and recorded her sixth-straight double-double, tallying 20 kills and 10 digs, as the Furman volleyball team blanked The Citadel, 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-18), Friday at Alley Gymnasium in Greenville, S.C.
Prior to the match, Ambrester and fellow senior Natalie Braun were recognized for surpassing the 1,000 kill mark. Ambrester currently has 1,110 career kills, while Braun, who also reached the 1,000 digs mark last year, has 1,116 career kills. The two players join only 15 other former Furman volleyball players in the 1,000 kills club and are the first Paladins to earn the accomplishment since 2008. Braun is only the ninth player in Furman history and the first since 2006 to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career.
Following a 4-4 tie to open the match, the Paladins connected for four-straight points, including two Ambrester service aces, to build an 8-4 advantage. The Bulldogs cut the lead to one at 10-9, but again Furman answered with a 4-0 run to maintain control of the set, 14-9. The Citadel came within two points of Furman at 17-15, but the Paladins won four out of the next five points and held on for a 25-20 set victory.
The Citadel built a quick 4-1 lead at the beginning of the second set, before a 9-2 Furman run gave the Paladins a 10-6 margin. The Bulldogs scored two-consecutive points to pull within two, but Furman scored on seven of the next eight points to stretch the lead to 17-10. The Paladins maintained a six-point lead at 20-14 then put together a 5-2 run, fueled by two Ambrester kills, for a 25-16 set win.
Following the break, the teams battled through five ties before three Ambrester kills ignited a 6-1 Furman run. The Citadel won four of the next five points to trim the lead to two points at 12-10, but the Paladins took advantage of Bulldog service and hitting errors to extend the lead to four at 16-12. The Citadel put together a 4-0 run to tie the match at 16-all, before the Paladins reeled off seven-straight points behind the strong service of freshman Caitlyn Scioscia to gain control of the match at 23-17. The teams traded points before a final kill from junior Christina Dorismond sealed the 25-18 Furman win.
Dorismond hit .385 and tallied 12 kills and a team-high three blocks in the match, while freshman Jo Wilks led the Paladins with 43 assists. Junior libero Elle Ross paced the Furman defense with 11 digs.
Rachael Farrell hit .360 and led The Citadel (6-25, 0-13 SoCon) with 11 kills, and libero Erin Bucherl collected 18 digs. Mikaela Tracy recorded 26 assists for the Bulldogs.
Chattanooga 3, UNCG 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - After winning the first two sets at Chattanooga Friday night, the UNCG volleyball team could not hold off the Mocs, falling 3-2 inside Maclellan Gymnasium. The Spartans fall to 13-12 overall and 7-6 in Southern Conference play while Chattanooga picked up a key victory to move to 11-17 and 5-8. The Mocs now occupy fourth place in the North Division alone, putting them in position to grab a bid to the conference tournament.
It was the 11th five-set match for the Spartans this season, matching the single-season program record. UNCG fell to 4-7 in those matches this year.
Junior Olivia Humphries led four UNCG players in double figures with 17 kills, completing a double-double by adding 15 digs. Classmate Karrian Chambers turned in her team-leading eighth double-double of the year with 15 kills and 17 digs. The Spartans also received a career-high 13 kills from freshman Julia Westerbur while junior Morgan Freeman chipped in with 12. Westerbur was an efficient offensive force for UNCG, hitting at a .393 clip.
Defensively, junior Kellie Orewiler eclipsed the 30-dig plateau for the third time this year, racking up a match-high 34 digs. Freshman Katherine Santiago contributed 20 while senior Ari Lysacek notched a double-double with 54 assists and 13 digs.
Chattanooga ended up with the edge in hitting percentage at .206-.200 while also holding the upper hand in digs (114-112). The defensive output marked the first time UNCG hit triple digits in the dig column this year. The Spartans got the best of the blocking despite the defeat, out-blocking the home team 10.0-5.0.
The Blue and Gold jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set thanks to kills from Lysacek and Chambers, as well as a Humphries ace. Chattanooga was able to respond with three-straight points to tie things up, but Chambers stopped the run with another kill. The Mocs eventually took their first lead of the match at 6-5 when Westerbur committed an attacking error, but UNCG rallied by scoring seven of the next points to take a 12-8 advantage and force a Chattanooga timeout.
Feeding off of its home crowd, the Mocs produced an 8-2 run to move in front by a 16-14 count, but the Spartans settled down and tied the score on a Humphries kill that gave each team 18 points. UNCG reached set point at 24-22 when Westerbur put down a kill. Chattanooga was able to stave the Spartans off once with a kill by Heather Parman, but Chambers sealed the set with a kill of her own to propel UNCG to a 25-23 first set victory.
Humphries put the Spartans ahead 3-1 in the second frame with a kill, and the UNCG block took over from there - allowing the Spartans to move in front 8-5. UNCG fell behind 14-10 when Westerbur committed an attacking error and the Spartans would have to call for timeout. Fighting back, UNCG scored eight of the next 12 points to forge an 18-18 deadlock.
It was the Spartans who forced the home side to take a timeout of its own when Parman miscued offensively as UNCG led 22-19 at that point. A bad set by Paula Passmore made the score 24-22 before an attacking error by Briana Reid gave the Spartans set two 25-22.
UNCG fell behind early in the third set, trailing 6-4 on a Christina Teter kill. The Spartans answered with a 6-4 which knotted the score at 10, but a Chambers attacking error capped a 4-1 run for Chattanooga and allowed the Mocs to build a 14-11 advantage. UNCG trailed by as much as 20-16 late, but dug down and scored five of the next six points to tie the set at 21. The Spartans could only score one more point however, as a Sarah Batterton kill notched a 25-22 win for the Mocs and sent the match to a fourth interval.
Chattanooga established a 13-8 lead in the fourth frame and did not look back, taking advantages of 20-12 and 23-15 on the way to a 25-19 victory to force the deciding set.
UNCG called a timeout early in the fifth frame as the Mocs scored four of the first five points. The Spartans pulled within 8-6 on a Humphries kill, but Chattanooga recovered to build a seemingly insurmountable 13-8 cushion. Down 14-11, UNCG benefitted from a service error to draw within two, but Reid slammed the door shut with a kill - completing the Mocs' comeback.
Samford 3, Elon 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- Samford clinched its second-consecutive SoCon North Division title, defeating Elon 3-1 in the Pete Hanna Center in the team's annual Dig Pink night. UNCG's loss to Chattanooga tonight gives Samford a four-match lead in the standings with only three remaining in the regular season.
With Elizabeth Neisler out with an ankle injury, other players had to come in and fill the void on offense.
It is Samford's fourth North Division title in the past five seasons, winning it every year since joining the SoCon in 2008 with the exception of the 2010 season, which Elon won.
Samford (19-8, 11-2 SoCon) was not particularly sharp on offense, hitting .232 as a team, but key runs during the third and fourth sets ultimately made the difference. Michaela Reesor led the team with 22 kills, hitting a .314 clip behind 51 swings and six errors. Katie Murphy was also in double-digits, earning 13 kills and a .357 percentage from the middle. Setter Casey Garvey tied a career-best with seven kills while tallying 48 assists and nine digs. Reesor added 10 digs for her ninth double-double of the season, her fifth over the last six matches.
Elon (14-14, 7-6 SoCon) evened the match in set two, hitting .444 in the frame but struggling in the remaining two hitting .139 and .037 respectively. Chanelle Smith led their attack with 15 kills while Ali Deatsch and Maggie Reichard anchored the defense with a combined 25 digs.
Up 9-6 in the opening frame, Samford stretched the lead to eight points with a 9-4 run as Elon took a timeout trailing 18-10. Out of the break, the Phoenix narrowed the gap, drawing within four as Samford took a timeout leading 20-16. Each team would score four, with Samford leading 24-20 at set point, and Lauren Hutchinson would seal the set win with a kill, giving the Bulldogs the early 1-0 match lead.
Elon held a narrow lead to open set two, but back-to-back service aces by Chelsi Carter put Samford up 14-13, forcing the Phoenix to take a timeout. Samford stretched it to a three-point lead before Elon came charging back, eventually tying the match at 20-20 and moving up 22-20 with Samford taking a timeout. The Phoenix reached set point, up 24-22, and the Bulldogs briefly staved off the end of the set with a kill by Reesor to gain possession down 24-23. Elon's Smith would provide the final point however, earning a kill to give the Phoenix the 25-23 set win and even the match at 1-1.
Tied at 4-4 in set three with Taylor Chao at the service line, the Bulldogs rattled off three in a row to move up 7-4 as Elon took a timeout. Holding the three-point margin later, up 14-11, Erika Devaughn slammed a kill down to make it 15-11 as the Phoenix were forced to take another timeout. Samford would reach the 20-point mark with a five-point lead and that would end up as the difference in the set with Samford winning 25-20.
The fourth set was Samford's most deciding frame, as the Bulldogs sealed the Division lead with a 25-18 win. Tied at 9-9, the Bulldogs would take the lead with 7-0 run to move up 16-9 over the Phoenix. Samford would maintain the seven-point lead for most of the set, though Elon would score three in a row to draw within five, down 23-18, forcing Samford to take a late timeout. After the break, a kill by Reesor and a block by Carter and Hutchinson would end it with the Bulldogs up 25-18.