Wofford 3, The Citadel 0CHARLESTON, S.C. – Senior setter Bekah Dorsey highlighted the Wofford volleyball team’s 3-0 sweep (25-14, 25-19, 25-17) of The Citadel Saturday evening inside McAlister Fieldhouse, tallying her 3,000th career assist to help the Terriers earn their first Southern Conference victory of the season.
Dorsey went for a match-high 35 assists – the 16th time this season and 81st time in her career she has gone for 20 or more – and came up a dig short of a double-double with nine. Assist number 3,000 came as Wofford’s third point in the second game, setting up a kill for junior Taylor Baird. It was one of 15 assists Dorsey had in the set, as she became just the fourth Terrier in Wofford history to reach 3,000 career assists.
The win moves Wofford to 6-12, 1-3 SoCon, snapping the Terrier’s six-match losing streak. The Citadel falls to 4-15, 0-4 SoCon, and suffers its fourth straight defeat to Wofford.
Wofford hit at a .413 clip for the match, putting down 51 kills on 92 swings while committing just 13 errors. Wofford’s attack percentage dominated The Citadel, which hit .165 with only 27 kills on 85 total attempts, matching the Terriers with 13 errors.
On defense, the Terriers doubled up the Bulldogs in digs, 38-19, while The Citadel’s only advantage of the match came on the block with seven to Wofford’s one.
Senior Amanda Liguori had a match-high 13 kills, hitting .435 (13-3-23) along the way. For Liguori, Saturday night marked the sixth time this season she has led a match in kills, and the 10th time she has led the Terriers. Sophomore Liz Buterbaugh hit .438 with nine kills (9-2-16), while senior Wendy Burnett and freshman Elizabeth Ouzts hit .800 (8-0-10) and .700 respectively (8-1-10). Junior Taylor Baird also got in on the action, hitting .385 with seven kills on 13 swings.
Sophomore Jessica Graham continued her terrific season with a match-high 17 digs. Graham has led the match in digs nine times this season, while leading the Terriers in 15 of their 18 matches. The Goose Creek, S.C., native also added six assists.
It was all Wofford the whole way. With the score 13-12 in the opening set, the Terriers went on a 12-2 run to win the first by 11. A spread attack helped the Terriers on the run with kills by Ouzts, Burnett, Dorsey, Liguori and Buterbaugh. More impressively, Wofford finished the first set with no attack errors, hitting .593 with 16 kills on 23 attempts.
The second set saw the Terriers pull away fairly early. A two-point set at 10-8 turned into a six-point Wofford lead courtesy of a 6-2 run to make the score 16-10. Both sides traded the remaining points to help Wofford comfortably take a two-set lead. Burnett highlighted the set with five kills on six attempts, registering no errors.
The third and final set belonged to Liguori. The senior outside hitter put together seven kills, helping Wofford jump out to a commanding 12-4 advantage. The Terriers went on to lead by as many as 10 at two different points in the set, 16-6 and 17-7, ultimately taking the finale by eight on Buterbaugh’s ninth and final kill of the match. Dorsey had the assist.
Western Carolina 3, Chattanooga 0Chattanooga, Tenn. – The Western Carolina volleyball team stayed perfect in Southern Conference play with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-21) sweep of Chattanooga Saturday afternoon. The Catamounts improve to 14-4 overall and 4-0 in the SoCon. WCU’s current six-match winning streak is the longest streak since the 2003 squad won seven in a row. Western Carolina is one of only two teams left unbeaten in the SoCon with Furman starting out 4-0, as well. The two teams are scheduled to face off Sunday, October 13 in Cullowhee. However, Furman plays App State prior to the WCU match, and the Catamounts host Wofford on Friday, October 11 for their next match. In the first set, WCU turned a 13-12 lead into a 17-13 advantage with a 4-1 run sparked by kills from Addy George and Cristina Nazario. The Catamounts never let the Mocs within three points as WCU went on to claim the first set 25-20. Western Carolina broke the second set extended a 6-5 lead into a 12-6 advantage with a 6-1 run. WCU went on to extend the lead out to 18-10 en route to a 2-0 advantage in the match with a 25-19 set two win. With the third set tightly contested until WCU broke a tie at 19 with a 4-0 run highlighted by a kill from junior outside hitter Jordan Timmermann and an ace by her classmate and fellow outside hitter Caitlin Piechota to take a 23-19 lead. Western Carolina held on and completed the sweep with a 25-21 set three win. George, a junior middle blocker, led the Catamount attack for the second straight match with 11 kills on 17 swings with three errors for a .471 hitting percentage. Timmermann followed with nine kills. Senior libero Morgan Cochran collected 17 digs, and sophomore middle blocker Nicole Ford, for the second consecutive match, led the team with five total blocks, four block assists and one solo block. Nazario, a sophomore setter, handed out 25 assists in the win.
Davidson 3, UNCG 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. – After being pushed to the brink, Davidson came back to claim the final two sets of the match and earn a thrilling 3-2 victory over the visiting UNCG Spartans in Southern Conference play Saturday afternoon at Belk Arena. The Wildcats took the match by set score of 25-23, 18-25, 19-25, 25-10 and 15-13 in their annual “Dig Pink” event to raise awareness for breast cancer.
With the Wildcats (11-6, 2-2 SoCon) hitting .229 as a team, Caroline Brown rolled to her 13th double-double of the season with a team-high 22 kills and 16 digs. Tindall Sewell notched 13 kills on her way to the team’s best hitting percentage at .591, while Hannah Rau was just shy of a double-double with 13 digs and nine kills. Rau and Brown hit .346 and .353, respectively.
Mikayla Derochie picked up assists on 51 of the team’s 61 kills, with Anastasia Owen adding in a trio of assists. Owen was the third of four players to finish with ten or more dug balls, recording 12 digs, while Derochie picked up 13 for her first career double-double. Also on the defensive side, Emily Franklin (five kills) led the blocking with a trio of block assists as the Wildcats claimed five team blocks.
Karrian Chambers led four players in double figure kills for UNCG (9-8, 2-2 SoCon) with 16 on the day. Sara Hohman was the team’s leader in assists with 26, while libero Katherine Santiago had a team-high 22 digs. The Spartans hit .213 with 14.0 team blocks as three different players posted five blocks assists each.
An ace and five kills put the Wildcats ahead 9-4 to start the first set. The Spartans put up a fight near the end, rattling off five straight to cut the Davidson lead to just a point, 20-19. Five errors in the last six points made for a sloppy finish, with the ‘Cats claiming the set, 25-23, on a kill from Brown.
The teams found themselves neck-and-neck throughout most of the second set, with UNCG taking three straight points to create some separation at 20-17. A pair of blocks from the Spartans, along with a pair of kills, would hand them the set win, 25-18, while evening the match at 1-1.
The Spartans rolled to an 11-5 lead with eight straight points in set number three before Rau slammed down a kill to end their run. An ace from Derochie and kills from Brown and Sewell did little to trim the deficit as the ‘Cats continued to trail 23-16. Despite the ‘Cats claiming three of the last four points, UNCG’s Sydney Darden slammed down a kill to give the 25-19 win and 2-1 match lead to the Spartans.
With the Spartans able to earn the win in set four, the Wildcats buckled down and scored five straight in taking a 10-point lead at 14-4. Davidson went on to take four more in a row soon after, leading 18-5. The Spartans couldn’t cut into the deficit as back-to-back kills from Brown meant a 25-10 win for the Wildcats evened the match at 2-2.
The squads traded points for portions of the fifth set, as a kill from Brown gave Davidson a slim 10-8 advantage. The Spartans quickly knotted the score at 10-10, but consecutive points from the ‘Cats put them ahead by two again. Rau came through with a pair of kills late in the set, slamming down the game-winner as Davidson took the 15-13 victory to win the match 3-2.
Samford 3, Appalachian State 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- After giving up a 2-0 match lead and falling behind in the fifth set, Samford fought back from a five-point deficit to pull out a gutsy win over Appalachian State in front of an electric Pete Hanna Center crowd Saturday night.
Samford (11-8, 2-2 SoCon) was bested in nearly every statistical column by Appalachian State (10-8, 1-3 SoCon), but in a flipped script from Friday night’s loss, it was a late 11-4 run in the fifth by the Bulldogs that made all the difference. Samford’s two offensive anchors, Michaela Reesor and Katie Murphy, led the team with 19 and 17 kills, respectively, while Chelsi Carter improved her personal-best mark yet again with 28 digs tonight.
In addition to Murphy, Samford’s three other seniors played key roles in the clutch win. Stephanie Palmer paced the offense with 55 assists, Taylor Palmer was a force up front with a career-high two solo blocks and six block assists and Taylor Chao was a scrappy defender with 10 digs off the bench.
Appalachian State came in with the early energy in set one, leading 7-5 before Samford responded with three in a row to retake the lead, 8-7. Later, up 11-10, Reesor and Murphy slammed down a pair of kills to move up 13-10 as the Mountaineers took a timeout. The set remained tight but the Bulldogs would not give up the lead, eventually reaching set point up 24-19. The Mountaineers briefly staved off the 25th point with two of their own, but Murphy sealed it with a kill as the Bulldogs won 25-21 to take a 1-0 match lead.
The Samford offense exploded out of the gate in set two, with seven kills by five different Bulldogs helping build a significant 11-3 lead. Nearing a double-digit lead, up 15-6, The Mountaineers began to close the gap, scoring four unanswered to make it 15-10 as Samford took a timeout. A 4-1 Samford run widened the gap back up to 19-11, but Appalachian State again answered back to draw within five, 20-15. Four different Bulldogs earned kills in the closing stages of set two, with Kihana Wicks capping it to give Samford the 25-17 win and a 2-0 match lead.
Prior to tonight’s match , Samford held a 9-0 record when winning set one and a 10-3 when winning set two. Appalachian State refused to become another statistic as they came out rejuvenated in set three. Leading 9-6, the Mountaineers began to pull away with four points in a row to make it 13-6 as Samford took a timeout. Appalachian State doubled-up Samford, leading 18-9, before a 4-1 Samford run cut it to 19-13. Samford hoped to make a late comeback, earning the side-out point and taking possession trailing 23-16. A pair of Mountaineer kills ended any comeback chance however as Appalachian State avoided the sweep with a 25-16 set three win.
Feeling a shift in momentum, Appalachian State had its mind set on the improbable comeback. Set four was neck-and-neck with Samford holding a slight lead until the Mountaineers finally took their first lead of the frame near the midway point, 14-13. The Bulldogs fought back to retake the lead, 16-15, as Appalachian State regrouped with a timeout. The break spurred a huge Mountaineer run, as a 9-1 run gave them set point, 24-17, with Samford burning both its timeouts in the process. Appalachian State went on to win 25-18 and force a fifth set for the second time this weekend.
The Hanna Center crowd rose to its feet as the fifth set started, with Samford needing a big momentum shift to pull out the win. The Appalachian State offense continued to frustrate the Bulldogs, with the Mountaineers building a 9-4 lead. A kill by Gabbi Greenwald lit a fire in the Bulldog offense, as they charged back with five unanswered points to tie the set at 9-9 but could not take the lead, as Appalachian State built a 12-10 lead. A pair of kills by Murphy and a Mountaineer attack error gave Samford back the lead, 13-12, as the visitors took a timeout. An Appalachian State kill tied it up at 13-13 but a kill by Murphy gave the Bulldogs set point ,14-13, and a block by Taylor Palmer and Stephanie Palmer sealed it as the Bulldog bench stormed the court to celebrate the gutsy comeback win.