Appalachian State 3, North Carolina A&T 0

BOONE N.C. - Appalachian State University volleyball picked up several big performances from its underclassmen in a dominating, 3-0 win over North Carolina A&T on Tuesday at the Holmes Center.

The Mountaineers (4-10), who played at home for the first time all season, led nearly the entire way as the Aggies (0-16) were not match for App State's offensive onslaught.

With the teams tied at 7-7 early in the first set, Appalachian reeled off 10-straight points to jump out in front, 17-6. The run, which began with a kill by Jessica Eley, featured nine-straight points with Paige Brown at the service line.

The Apps hit a blistering .357 in the first set and never led by less then nine points after the early run as they cruised to an easy 25-11 first-set victory.

North Carolina A&T was able to grab an early lead in the second-set, but it was short-live as the Mountaineers took control of the set thanks to 10-0 run midway through the set. The second-set run featured an impressive performance from Meghan Mahoney, who was at the service line the entire time as the Apps picked up a 25-11 set victory.

App State left little doubt as to who was the better team in the third and final set as it raced out to an 8-1 lead en route to a 25-14 third-set victory to clinch the match.

Lindsey Sauls led all players with 12 kills while Dalton Tolliver tallied 11 kills and two solo blocks. Brown notched 25 assists and Courtney Rhein chipped in with 12 digs.

The Mountaineers hit a staggering .338 on the attack while limiting the Aggies to a .185 hitting percentage. App State committed just 11 errors in 77 total attacks and finished with six blocks to A&T's four.

Appalachian State opens SoCon play this weekend when it travels to Chattanooga (Sept. 21) and Samford (Sept. 22).
 
MATCH NOTES: The Mountaineers improved to 29-4 in home openers dating back to the 1981 season... the Apps also improved to 8-0 all-time against North Carolina A&T... Tolliver tallied double-digits in kills for the eighth time this year while Sauls notched her sixth performance with 10 or more kills... Tolliver also set a season-high in solo blocks... Rhein needs just 284 more digs to become App State's all-time leader... she has recorded 1,545 career digs and needs 155 more to move into second all-time.

Western Carolina 3, Gardner-Webb 0

Cullowhee, N.C. - The Western Carolina volleyball team returned to the friendly confines of the Ramsey Center Tuesday evening and used a consistent .307 hitting percentage and long opening runs to sweep the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs . Returning from an 11 match road swing, the Catamounts had five finish with six kills or more.

The Catamounts wasted no time in the match, starting out with a 6-0 run in the first set, forcing an early timeout by the Bulldogs. Despite a four point swing late in the set, the Bulldogs were never able to recover from the hot start by WCU with the Catamounts taking the set, 25-18.

In the second set, the WCU momentum continued with the Purple and Gold rolling to a 5-1 lead. The Bulldogs chipped away at the early start and pulled within two at 8-6. The Catamounts led by as many as 10 in the set, winning the second by a score of 25-16 going into the break.

The third set began with sophomore middle blocker Addy George having a hot hand, scoring three of Western Carolina's first four points with WCU jumping out to a 6-2 lead. The Catamounts would extend their lead to 10-4 before Gardner-Webb called a timeout to attempt to slow WCU's momentum.

Gardner-Webb began to claw back into the set, picking up a point out of the timeout with a kill from Heather Feldman. The Bulldogs got within four with score 22-18, but a kill by middle blocker Leah Butler off the dish from Tina Nazario slowed GWU. WCU took the set and the match, winning the third, 25-19, off another Leah Butler kill.

Four Catamounts - Nicole Ford (8), Addy George (9), Jordan Timmermann (8), Caitlin Piechota (8) and Abbey Scroggins (6) - all finished with at least six kills in the match. Freshman setter Tina Nazario pitched a balanced game, dishing out 39 assists. She also picked up three kills of her own, four digs and two blocks. George led the team in blocks with three.

Almost equally as impressive were the hitting percentage from those Catamounts with six or more kills as they all hit about .250, with Addy George hitting at an impressive .667 clip. WCU as a team hit .500 in the third set.

Junior Morgan Cochran scooped up 21 digs to lead the Catamounts in that category. Cochran has 12 matches with double-digit kills, with six of those over 20.

The Catamounts once again return to the road this weekend to begin SoCon play against the Samford Bulldogs in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday at 6:00 p.m. Following the Samford match, Western Carolina travels to Chattanooga, Tenn., to take on the Mocs. That match begins at 3:00 p.m. All results and live stats can be accessed through CatamountSports.com.

College of Charleston 3, Charleston Southern 1

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston defeated Charleston Southern, 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 25-19) in a local rivalry match at Buccaneer Fieldhouse on Tuesday night.

The Cougars (7-5) hit .301 for the match and had four different players record double-digits in kills, while Charleston Southern (5-10) hit .274 for the match.

Junior Emily Neideffer tallied a season-high attack percentage of .714 with 10 kills on 14 attempts and no errors. That hitting mark ranks second in the Southern Conference this season for a single match, and fourth in school history.

Junior Darcy Dorton tallied her sixth double-double of the season as she made 21 kills and 12 digs, hitting a season-best .436 attack percentage.

Freshman Melissa Morello bested her season high with 13 kills, while Kerstin Koehler made 10 kills (.474) with four blocks. Senior Kelly Kolich hit a season-best .462 with seven kills and just one error. Emily Shelton continued her impressive number of digs with 26, averaging 6.2 per set, and Taeler Davis finished with 60 assists, just two from her career high.

The Buccaneers were led by Kayla Klinger's 15 kills (.308) and 12 digs. Siraya Windsor also reached double digits with 11 kills and 13 digs.

College of Charleston and the Buccaneers were knotted up throughout most of the first set, with both teams using roll shots to find space in the middle of the floor. The Cougars eventually went on a 4-0 run to extend a 16-14 lead to 20-14 and take control of the set. Dorton made 10 kills in the first set and hit .643 with only one error, as the Cougars hit .326 as a team.

CSU built a 19-13 lead in the second set, but the Cougars went on a 7-2 run to pull to within 21-20 and force a Buccaneer timeout. College of Charleston kept pushing and eventually took a 24-23 lead and won the set, 25-23. Lizzie Theesfeld stepped up big in the final points of the set, notching kills from the left side on the last two points of the set. She finished with four kills in the set as the Cougars again hit .326.

The Cougars fell behind yet again in the middle of the third set, but Charleston Southern did not let CofC recover from the 17-12 deficit and went on to win the third set, 25-16. CSU hit .519 in the third set with just one error, led by Klinger's four kills. The Cougars countered with an attack mark of just .161.

College of Charleston rebounded in the fourth game, building a three-point lead early and then pulling away from a one-point lead to go up 20-16. Several big blocks from Neideffer and Koehler fronted the CofC defense, but the Bucs strung several successful attacks together to nearly erase the Cougar lead, bringing the margin to 21-19. The Cougars came out firing from a called timeout to win the final four points of the set and win, 25-19.

The Cougars will open SoCon play at Elon on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

UNC Wilmington 3, The Citadel 0

Wilmington, N.C. - The senior trio of Cassie Uribe, Rachael Farrell and Jessica Maxwell combined for 19 kills, but it was not enough to turn back an upstart UNC Wilmington squad that completed a sweep of The Citadel by scores of 25-21, 25-21 and 25-17.

Uribe led all Citadel hitters with eight kills, followed closely by Farrell (six kills) and Maxwell (five kills), as the Bulldogs totaled 31 team kills in the contest. Farrell proved to be potent for The Citadel defensively, accounting for 15 digs, while teammate Emily Dalton added 11. Freshman Mikaela Tracy continued her solid play as she handed out 23 assists and made for eight digs. The Cadets slipped to 2-12 overall on the season.

UNC Wilmington's offense was highlighted by the combination of Morgan Kline and McKenzie Keightly, who managed 15 and 12 kills, respectively. Keightly converted 12 kills in 20 total attacks for a .500 hitting percentage. As for Kline, she completed a double-double with 14 digs to go along with her match-high 15 kills. The Seahawks (7-8) also got a strong defensive showing from Haley Collins (18 digs) and Lindsay Hartmann (11 digs).

The opening set of the match witnessed four ties among the first 18 combined points, before a series of Christi Laite attack errors opened the door for a 12-9 Citadel lead. UNCW quickly retaliated, behind the service games of Kline and Collins, with a 10-1 run that was due in large part to five Bulldog unforced errors. The Citadel put together a brief rally, trimming the margin to three on two occasions, but three kills down the stretch by Kline proved to be the difference, 25-21.

The Bulldogs regained their offensive rhythm in the second set, opening up an early 10-7 lead behind two kills each from Farrell and Ise d'Angelo. After a 4-1 run by the Seahawks, knotting the score at 11 all, Uribe came through with four of the next five Citadel points to push the Dogs back in front, 16-11. UNC Wilmington again put pressure on the Bulldogs, this time with a 6-1 run, drawing the set even at 17-17. Eight points and four ties later, this time deadlocked at 21, three consecutive unforced errors in the final four points made for the 25-21 Seahawks win.

Sensing the opportunity to close out the match, UNC Wilmington grabbed a 2-1 lead early in the third set and never looked back. The Seahawks converted 13 kills among their next 18 points to assume a 20-4 lead. Among those included five kills by Kline and three from Keightley. The Citadel burned its second timeout of the set and regrouped to score seven of the next 10 points, taking advantage of kills by Maxwell, Uribe, Farrell and Lauren Hurt to pull within 23-11. UNCW committed four errors among the final eight points of the game, but completed the 25-17 sweep on a kill by Keightly.

The Citadel returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 22 when they open Southern Conference play at UNC Greensboro. The match is set to start at 7 p.m. For more information on Bulldog volleyball, go to the official website of The Citadel Athletics, www.CitadelSports.com.