Wofford 3, Appalachian State 0BOONE, N.C. – Senior outside hitter Amanda Liguori became the fourth Terrier in history to record both 1,000 career digs and kills, helping the Wofford volleyball team to its third straight Southern Conference victory, 3-0, over Appalachian State Saturday night from Varsity Gym.
aLiguori finished the match with nine kills and nine digs, tallying dig number 1,000 in the final set. Having reached 1,000 career kills earlier this season, the Jacksonville, Fla., native joined Cindy Vinyard (1990-93), Cristy Carter (1998-01) and Shanna Hughes (2006-09) as the four Terriers who are part of the 1,000-kill, 1,000-dig club.
For the match, Wofford (8-12, 3-3 SoCon) was led by senior Wendy Burnett and junior Taylor Baird, both of whom had a match-high 11 kills. Baird added six digs, two blocks and an ace for 13.5 points, while Burnett had 13 points with a solo block and an ace. Sophomore libero Jessica Graham led the match with 20 digs.
Appalachian State (11-9, 3-3 SoCon) got a team-high 10 kills from Lauren Gray.
Wofford outhit App State .314 (41-8-105) to .216 (40-15-116) on the evening, also winning the dig battle with 55 to App’s 49. The Terriers put down 10 aces to App’s four. The Mountaineers did win the battle of the block, 4-3.
Georgia Southern 3, Elon 0
ELON, N.C. – Katie Bange posted 11 kills and three blocks, while Jamie DeRatt added 10 kills, six digs and three blocks to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-0 (25-10, 26-24, 25-16) Southern Conference volleyball victory over Elon Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium.
Katalin Minnerly posted 33 assists, seven digs and two blocks for the Eagles (17-3, 5-1 SoCon), and Alexandra Beecher had a match-high 12 digs. Kym Coley registered eight kills and three blocks, and Nicole Jeschelnik finished with seven kills and 11 digs.
Cali Estes led Elon (12-10, 3-3 SoCon) with nine kills, and Ana Nicksic finished with 23 assists.
The Eagles hit .284 for the match with just 12 errors, while forcing the Phoenix into an .053 hitting percentage and 21 errors. The Eagles had nine team blocks in the match with six different players in on at least one.
Georgia Southern took the first set 25-10 by hitting .444 and holding Elon to a negative hitting percentage. The second set was nip-and-tuck throughout. The Phoenix had a chance to take it after an Estes kill gave them a 24-23 lead, but Jeschelnik tied the score with a kill off a Minnerly assist.
Coley and Minnerly combined to block a Kayla Agae swing to make it set point for the Eagles, and Jeschelnik delivered a good serve that ultimately led to an Elon hitting error, giving GSU the set, 26-24.
A 9-3 run in the third set gave Georgia Southern a 19-12 cushion. DeRatt contributed three kills and assisted on a block during the stretch. Jeschelnik pushed the margin to nine points on a serving ace, and the Eagles went on to take the set, 25-16, and the match.
Samford 3, Davidson 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. ---- Coming off a tough loss Wednesday, Samford Volleyball rebounded in a big way with a solid road win over a tough Davidson squad Saturday night.
After falling in the opening set, Samford (12-9, 3-3 SoCon) held on to beat Davidson (11-8, 2-3 SoCon) in the following three, earning the win despite a .199 hitting percentage and seven service errors. Katie Murphy led all players with 16 kills and a .414 hitting percentage, while Gabbi Greenwald provided a spark at the outside with 12 kills and 12 digs for her second double-double of the season while also adding three aces at the service line. Chelsi Carter led all players with 16 digs while Stephanie Palmer did the same with 50 assists.
The home team had the early momentum, moving ahead 9-6 before Samford answered with four unanswered, capped by a block by Murphy and Greenwald to take a 10-9 lead. Davidson immediately tied it back up at 10-10 but a 7-4 Bulldog run including aces by Chelsi Carter and Stephanie Palmer forced a Wildcat timeout as the Bulldog led 17-14. Samford held onto the three-point, as Murphy and Reesor paired up for a block to make it 22-19 with Davidson burning its last timeout. Davidson would respond with four unanswered, taking a 23-22 lead as Samford burned both its timeouts in the process. A kill by Murphy tied it at 23-23 but back-to-back Bulldog errors would give Davidson the 25-23 comeback victory in the opening frame.
The teams traded the lead back and forth early in set two, as the largest lead was only two points after Davidson moved up 10-8. The momentum quickly shifted back in the Bulldogs’ favor, as Samford scored five in a row to move up 13-10 as Davidson took its first timeout. Long rallies made for some hard-earned points in the middle of the match, but the Bulldogs remained resilient, hitting the 20-point mark up 20-14 as the Wildcats took their second timeout. A 22-15 Samford lead was cut to 22-18 as the Bulldogs took a timeout, looking to halt the Wildcat run. Three kills in the closing stretch by Greenwald would seal it for Samford as the Bulldogs won, 25-19, to even the match at 1-1.
Set three opened much like set two, only it was Samford who held the two-point lead up 10-8 this time. Samford continued to extend its lead, slowly but surely, hitting the 20-point mark up 20-15. The five-point lead held as a block by Murphy and Stephanie Palmer gave the Bulldogs set point, 24-19, and Murphy followed with a solo block to secure the 25-19 win and give Samford a 2-1 match lead.
Tied at 6-6 in set one, three Wildcat errors put the Bulldogs out in front, 9-6, as Davidson took a frustrated early timeout. Errors continued to hurt the Wildcats’ efforts, as the Bulldogs took advantage with a 4-1 run extending the lead to 13-7 as Davidson burned its last timeout. Samford continued to roll, moving ahead 20-11 before the Wildcat offense found a spark, charging back with five unanswered points to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 20-16 as Samford took a timeout. The Wildcats continued to claw back, eventually tying the set at 23-23 as the Bulldogs took their final timeout. A bad set by Davidson gave Samford possession and match point, 24-23, and an ace by Greenwald sealed it as the Bulldogs held off the late Davidson push to win the set, 25-23, and the match, 3-1.
UNCG 3, The Citadel 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG volleyball rebounded from a tough loss to Georgia Southern last night by taking care of The Citadel 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-18) Saturday evening inside Fleming Gymnasium. With the victory, the Spartans improve to 10-9 overall and 3-3 in Southern Conference play while the Bulldogs drop to 4-17 and 0-6.
For the second time this season, the Blue and Gold held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage as The Citadel fired at a -.030 clip with just 26 kills. The Bulldogs made 29 errors and racked up only 25 assists. Conversely, the Spartans hit .274 with 37 kills on 84 attempts with just 14 errors. UNCG also held the upper hand defensively, out-digging the visitors 40-27 and out-blocking them 10.5-3.0.
Ise d’Angelo and Lauren Hurt paced the Bulldog attack with seven kills each while a trio of Citadel players recorded six digs.
Senior outside hitter Karrian Chambers posted match highs in kills (11) and digs (13) for her team-leading sixth double-double of the season. She also hit .261 in the match and chipped in with two blocks. A pair of middle hitters, junior Vicky Harley and senior Morgan Freeman manned the net for UNCG and ended up with six blocks apiece.
With the 11 kills, Chambers now needs just four to become the ninth player in program history to reach 1,000 for her career.
A kill by Freeman and an offensive miscue by Bailey Kernodle afforded UNCG a quick 2-0 lead in the first set before The Citadel tied it up with a block and a Chambers attacking error. The Spartans finally established some breathing room at 8-5 after a kill by senior middle hitter Olivia Humphries and the Blue and Gold extended the advantage to 15-7 thanks to a 7-2 run. The Bulldogs would get within 20-17 late in the frame, but UNCG allowed them to score just one more point as an attacking error by Katie Briggs ended it at 25-18.
The second stanza began somewhat competitively with the Blue and Gold holding a 7-5 lead after a Spartan block. However, The Citadel lost its way from there and let a 9-9 deadlock turn into a 16-10 UNCG lead thanks to a bevy of offensive miscues. The Spartans took advantage and dominated the rest of the way, scoring nine of the last 10 points to win the set 25-11 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Bulldogs showed some fight in the third frame, building a 4-1 lead after freshman outside hitter Jessica Brezwyn hit into the Bulldog block. UNCG rallied to tie the score at seven before the teams traded points the next eight rallies. With the stanza knotted at 11, the Spartans went on a 3-1 run to move ahead by two points. The Citadel notched two-straight scores to pull even at 14.
UNCG bore down and delivered the knockout punch with a 4-0 run in which the Bulldogs made three errors and Brezwyn notched a kill. With the score at 18-14, the Spartans ended the match by out-scoring The Citadel 7-4 the rest of the way.