Furman 3, Georgia Southern 1Greenville, S.C. – In Georgia Southern’s last trip to Alley Gym as a member of the Southern Conference, Furman volleyball completed a season-sweep of the Eagles when it prevailed, 3-1 (25-21, 25-15, 22-25, 25-21) on Friday night. With the win, the Paladins move to 12-10 on the season (8-3 SoCon), while the Eagles fall to 21-4 (9-2 SoCon). The victory marks the first time the Paladins have swept the Eagles in the regular season since 2009 and pushed Furman’s home record to 6-0.
Christina Dorismond paced the Paladins with 16 kills, a .382 hitting percentage and two blocks. Andrea Fisher recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 13 kills and 10 digs, while Casey Wells tied her career-high with 10 kills. Jo Wilks dished out 46 assists and Elle Ross recorded a team-high 15 digs. As a team, the Paladins hit .287 and held Georgia Southern to a .204 hitting percentage. The Eagles came in to the match hitting .238, second in the SoCon.
Georgia Southern took an early 9-5 lead in set one, before the Paladins battled back to cut the lead to one at 9-8. Georgia Southern then pushed their lead to 14-11, before Furman used kills by Christina Dorismond and key errors by Georgia Southern to go on a 9-2 run and take a 20-16 lead, forcing an Eagle timeout. Georgia Southern rallied to cut the Furman lead to one at 20-19, but the Paladins used kills from Casey Wells and Christina Dorismond to hold off the Georgia Southern rally and take set one, 25-21.
It was Furman that jumped out to an early 6-5 lead in set two, before Casey Wells served the Paladins on a 6-0 run to stretch the lead to 12-5. The momentum was all purple in set two and Georgia Southern could never overcome the early deficit, dropping the set 25-15, which allowed Furman to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Paladins hit a blistering .625 in set two and Ashton Gregory lead the way, hitting 1.000 with five kills in five attempts.
The teams traded points in set three until, with the score tied at 8, Furman used a balanced offense to take a 12-10 lead. The Eagles battled back to tie the score at 14, before taking a 15-14 lead in the set. Furman would not go away quietly, as the Paladins rallied to tie the score at 18. Georgia Southern pushed their lead to 20-18 to force a Paladin timeout, but Furman rattled off three straight points to take a 21-20 lead and force a Georgia Southern timeout. The Eagles then closed out the set on a 5-2 run to win 25-22 and cut the Furman overall lead to 2-1.
Georgia Southern took an early 4-1 lead in set four, but the Paladins then used a 7-0 run to take the lead at 8-4. The teams then traded points until Georgia Southern used a 7-2 run of their own to take a 15-14 lead in the set. Following a timeout, Furman went on a 5-0 run to push their lead to 19-15, behind the serving of Casey Wells. Georgia Southern clawed their way back into the set, cutting the Furman lead to one at 22-21, but the Paladins closed out the match on a 3-0 run to win set four, 25-22, and the match, 3-1.
Wofford 3, The Citadel 0SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Senior Wendy Burnett had a match-high 11 kills and hit .421 to lead the Wofford volleyball team to its third straight home win, 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-18), over The Citadel Friday evening from Benjamin Johnson Arena.
The Terrier attack was unstoppable. As a team, Wofford (11-15, 5-6 SoCon) hit at a .299 clip with 47 kills, more than doubling The Citadel (5-21, 0-11 SoCon), which had 21 kills and 19 errors for an .022 hitting percentage. Burnett’s 11 came on 19 swings and just three errors, while junior Taylor Baird had 10 and hit .304 (10-3-23), adding two aces and two blocks for a match-high 13.0 points. Senior Amanda Liguori posted nine kills, showing off the defense as well with 10 digs and three blocks.
The victory keeps the Terriers holding on to the all-important eighth spot in the Southern Conference standings. Wofford gained a half-game on ninth-place Davidson (3-7) by virtue of the Wildcats having the night off. Chattanooga (3-7) started at 8 p.m., on the road in Birmingham, Ala., against Samford (6-4).
Dorsey led the match with 37 assists and, more surprisingly, snuck in seven kills on eight attempts with no errors.
The Terriers outdueled their opponent on the block for just the fourth time this season, 8-7. Sophomore Liz Buterbaugh led the way, finishing with a match-high five blocks, including a solo.
Sophomore Jessica Graham got in a match-high 15 digs, one better than The Citadel’s Erin Bucherl, who had 14. Graham ranked fourth in the conference in digs per set at 4.55 heading into Friday night, and was No. 78 in the NCAA.
Seven of Graham’s digs came in the first set, where Wofford fought off the Bulldogs down the stretch to take an early advantage. The set saw six ties and two lead changes, with the last tie coming at 10-10, before Wofford rolled off the next four points to take its final lead. The Citadel got back within one at 17-16, but Burnett and Dorsey each put down one of their set-high four kills, sparking a 6-0 Terrier run for a 23-16 cushion. The duo went back to work on the final two Wofford points with two more kills for the first-set victory.
Liguori headed the second-set offense, puttiing down four kills on seven swings and hitting .429 in the set as the Terriers rolled by 12. After the Bulldogs took a 2-1 lead, Wofford put together a 14-3 run, resulting in a 15-5 advantage. A kill by Baird put the set way out of hand at 20-8 and the Terriers hit .393 as a unit to cruise to a two-set lead.
The third was competitive and, like the first, saw six ties and two lead changes. Wofford got some breathing room at 10-7, but Rachel Keefer served four straight points to get the Bulldogs back to even at 11, and again at 12. From there, Baird knocked down consecutive kills to put Wofford back up two. A serve error got The Citadel back to one at 14-13, but Dorsey responded with a kill and the run was on. The Terriers put down nine of 12 points to turn a close set into a 23-15 lead. Burnett had a set-high five kills and Buterbaugh put the finishing touches on the sweep with her sixth kill of the night, ending the match in 1 hour and 3 minutes.
UNCG 3, Western Carolina 0GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG volleyball team notched its third-straight win Friday night inside Fleming Gymnasium, putting together an impressive 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-16) sweep of Western Carolina in a key Southern Conference match. It is the first time all season the Spartans have either won or lost more than two consecutive contests.
As the SoCon hitting percentage leader in league matches, UNCG did not change that Friday – hitting a stout .354 while limiting the Catamounts to a .221 percentage. The Spartans also picked up more kills (54-36), assists (52-32), aces (7-0) and digs (59-41) while the blocking battle went Western’s way 5.0-1.0. The Blue and Gold sided out at 67 percent for the match and held the Catamounts to a 52-percent mark.
UNCG was led by a pair of fantastic performances from its outside hitters as senior Karrian Chambers and freshman Jessica Brezwyn posted 16 and 11 kills respectively. Both players also notched double-doubles with Chambers tallying 11 digs and Brezwyn 10. Additionally, Chambers hit .464 in the match while Brezwyn fired at a .333 clip.
Speaking of high hitting marks, senior middle hitter Morgan Freeman and junior middle hitter Vicky Harley put together respective percentages of .778 and .444. Harley had 10 kills in the match while Freeman ended up with seven.
Defensively, senior libero Kellie Orewiler racked up 20 digs to lead all players. She out-dueled the league leader in digs, Morgan Cochran, who checked in with 17. Freshman setter Sara Hohman, the reigning SoCon Freshman of the Week, fell just two digs short of her seventh double-double as she posted eight digs to go along with an impressive 47 assists. She also recorded a career-high four aces.
The teams matched each other point for point throughout most of the early portion of the first set until an ace by Hohman and a kill by Harley gave UNCG an 11-9 advantage. Western Carolina would tie the set at 11 after a Hohman ball-handling error, but the Spartans notched four of the next five points to establish some breathing room at 15-12. A block by Addy George and Caitlin Piechota made the score 16-15 in favor of the Blue and Gold before the Catamounts called for timeout trailing 18-16.
The respite proved ineffective as UNCG tallied four of the next five and went ahead 22-17 after consecutive aces by Hohman. After another WCU timeout, the Spartans gained their first set point at 24-18. The Catamounts made one last push, scoring the next five points to make things interesting, but a kill by Brezwyn slammed the door shut and UNCG held on to win the first frame 25-23.
The Blue and Gold grabbed a quick 3-1 lead in the second stanza before a kill by senior middle hitter Olivia Humphries made it 7-3. Western Carolina never really threatened in the frame, coming as close as 14-11 before a 4-1 UNCG run put it out of reach. The Spartans held leads of 20-14 and 22-17 before Harley rose high over the block and put the ball down to clinch the set 25-19 and give UNCG a 2-0 lead in the match.
Desperate to stay in the match, the Catamounts came out with purpose after the intermission – establishing a 6-2 advantage after an attacking error by Harley. However, the Spartans settled down and used four-straight kills to tie the score at six apiece. Western kept the lead for a little bit, but after a kill by Freeman knotted the set at 11, an ace by Freeman and two kills from Chambers afforded UNCG a 14-11 cushion and forced a visitor timeout. A kill by Jordan Timmerman drew WCU within 15-14, but the Spartans were not fazed and scored the next three points to put some space between the squads. The Blue and Gold allowed Western Carolina just two more points the rest of the way as an attacking error by Nicole Ford ended the stanza 25-16 and completed the Spartan sweep.
Appalachian State 3, Elon 0ELON, N.C. - Appalachian State University volleyball continued their winning streak on Friday night, beating Elon in three sets, featuring scores of 25-20, 25-23 and 25-12.
The first set would begin with a tied score at six before the Mountaineers (15-10, 6-5 SoCon) would score four straight points to pull ahead. The Apps would not give up the lead, winning the first by a comfortable margin, 25-20.
The Phoenix (15-12, 6-5) would get the early 5-3 lead in the second set before Appalachian would tie the score at ten. The Mountaineers began to pull away, winning the second 22-18 with a timeout for Elon. The Phoenix returned from the break to score three straight points and tie the score 23-23. It would not be enough, as the Apps scored the next two points to take the second set 25-23.
Despite scoring the first point of the third set, the Phoenix would fall behind quickly with a score of 7-4. The Apps continued to find points, leading the set 16-8 and not slowing down. The Mountaineers would later score six straight points to take the third set in dominating fashion with a score of 25-12 to win the match 3-0.
The Black and Gold found impressive offensive performances from Emily Corrigan and Lindsey Sauls, recording 15 and 13 kills, respectively.
Meghan Mahoney notched a match-high 25 digs, while Paige Brown added another match high of 38 assists.
The Mountaineers hit a dominating mark of .327, while limiting the Phoenix to hitting just .179 on the night. The Apps tallied six total team blocks, while Elon recorded four.
Samford 3, Chattanooga 1BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- After splitting two hard-fought sets to open Friday’s match against Chattanooga, Samford won more convincingly in sets three and four to win the match, 3-1.
Samford (16-10, 7-4 SoCon) avenged its loss to Chattanooga (4-22, 3-8 SoCon) from earlier this season as the Bulldogs hit .273 as a team with nearly twice as many kills as the Mocs. Michaela Reesor led all players with 20 kills while Katie Murphy anchored the middle with 15 kills, a .500 hitting percentage and four blocks. Chelsi Carter was a weapon at the service line, scoring a career-best five service aces while Stephanie Palmer added 15 digs and 53 assists for her team-leading third double-double of the season. Erin Bognar also saw her first play time since suffering an injury in the Sept. 28 match at Furman, making key plays at the outside and on defense and serve receive.
The match also gives Samford an early 3-1 lead in this season’s Southern Rail Rivalry, an annual all-sport competition between the schools.
The opening set was a nail-biter the whole way, with 14 tie scores and four lead changes. Tied at 5-5, Samford looked to pull away with three unanswered points, moving ahead 8-5, though Chattanooga quickly tied it back up at 9-9. Chattanooga did the same later in the set, scoring three in a row to move up 13-10 as Samford looked to stop their momentum with a timeout. A 4-1 Samford run tied it up at 14-14 and neither team could pull away, as the Bulldogs and Mocs were deadlocked up until the end, tied at 23-23. Chattanooga reached set point off a Lauren Gainer kill and Anne Bachmann sealed it with an ace to give the Mocs the narrow 25-23 victory in set one.
Set two was very similar to the first, seeing 13 tie scores and five lead changes. The seventh tie score of the set would put the teams at 11-11, as a kill by Bognar give the Bulldogs the lead and Mattie Newson would stretch it to two with an ace, making the score 13-11. A 4-1 run by Chattanooga gave the Mocs the 15-14 lead as Samford took its first timeout. Chattanooga would extend its lead, moving ahead 21-18 as the Bulldogs burned their second timeout. A kill by Reesor to make it 21-19 started a stellar run for the Bulldogs, as an 8-3 run down the stretch evened the match at 1-1 as Samford would win, 26-24.
The momentum from the end of set two carried over into set three, as Samford jumped ahead to an early 8-3 lead, forcing Chattanooga to take a timeout. The Mocs would draw within three, trailing 12-9, but five unanswered points by the Bulldogs would extend Samford’s lead to 17-9. Samford would continue to extend the lead, moving ahead by double digits at set point, 24-14, and closing with a kill by Taylor Palmer to win 25-14 and move ahead 2-1 in the match.
Chattanooga would take the first lead of set four, 2-0, but Samford responded to retake the lead, 4-2, and the Bulldogs would stay in front for the remainder of the match. Chattanooga took its first timeout trailing 8-4 and, trailing by the same margin later down 13-9, a 3-0 Samford run would force the Mocs to take their final timeout down 16-9. Samford was looking for a double-digit lead, up 20-11, but a 5-1 run by Chattanooga would cut the lead to 21-16. Each team would score three points to make it 24-19 and Taylor Palmer would cap it with a kill to win the set, 25-19, and the match, 3-1.