Elon 3, Western Carolina 1ELON, N.C. – The Elon volleyball team rebounded from a tough loss a day ago to take a 3-1 win (25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 25-23) over Western Carolina tonight, Nov. 2, in Alumni Gym. The Phoenix improves to 16-12 on the season and 7-5 in Southern Conference play, while the Catamounts fall to 16-10 (6-6 SoCon).
Senior Cali Estes continues to impress by posting her fourth straight triple-double (fifth of the season) with a team-high 12 kills, 19 assists and 15 digs. Sophomore Megan Gravley and freshman Ally Karle both finished with 11 kills each. On defense, Elon out blocked the Catamounts, 15-7, with the help of a career-high eight blocks from sophomore Catherine Head and a career-high seven blocks from Karle.
With the first set tied at nine-all, kills by Danielle Smith and Gravley, a solo block by Head, as well as a block by D. Smith and Head, helped Elon to four straight to take the lead, 13-9. A kill by Estes moved the Phoenix to a six-point edge, 23-17. Two blocks by D. Smith and Head would give the maroon and gold two of the final three points to win the set, 25-20.
In the second set, the Phoenix went up 10-7 after kills by D. Smith, Gravley and a block by Head and Gravley. Back-to-back kills by Karle extended the Elon advantage to five, 13-8, before the Catamounts cut its deficit to three, 15-12. The maroon and gold forced several WCU errors and used kills by Chanelle Smith and Estes to move ahead by six, 21-15. Two straight kills by Head would close out the set in favor of the Phoenix, 25-17, and give Elon a 2-0 lead.
The third set was extremely close with neither team taking more than a three-point advantage and saw 12 ties by the team the score reached 23-all. From there, WCU managed to tally the last two points to win, 25-23, and send the match to a fourth set.
Western held the advantage through the majority of the fourth set but the Phoenix stayed within striking distance. The Catamounts led by five, 21-16, before a 4-0 run with two kills by Estes and one by Karle cut the gap to one, 21-20, and forced a WCU timeout. Out of the timeout, the Catamounts scored the next two before the Phoenix evened the score at 23-all with a block by Karle and C. Smith. A block by Karle and Estes and a kill by Karle gave Elon the final two points to take a 25-23 win and close out the match.
Appalachian State 3, UNCG 0GREENSBORO, N.C. - Appalachian State University volleyball won their fourth straight match on Saturday night, sweeping UNCG in three sets with scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 31-29.
The first set would have only one lead change as the Mountaineers (16-10, 7-5 SoCon) took an early 12-6 lead over the Spartans (14-11, 7-5). UNCG would not catch up, letting the Apps take the set 25-19.
The Mountaineers would take charge again in the second set, pulling ahead 9-6. The scores would be close througout the set, but the Spartans would not gain the lead once as Appalachian took the second set 25-19 again.
The next set would consist of 12 tied scores as the two teams would battle for the third. The Mountaineers would score seven straight points and look as though they would easily win the set with a score of 20-13 before the Spartans would come charging back to tie the match at 24. Points would be scored back-and-forth between UNCG and App before Appalachian would eventually take the third 31-29.
Emily Corrigan led the team in kills for the third straight match, recording 13 on the night. Lauren Gray followed, tallying 12 kills and only one error for an impressive .579 hitting percentage.
Paige Brown assisted 42 kills on the match, while Meghan Mahoney notched a match high 22 kills.
The Mountaineers hit .287 on the night, while limiting UNCG to a .132 hitting percentage. The Apps had nine total blocks on the night to the Spartans' four.
Georgia Southern 3, Wofford 0SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Nicole Jeschelnik collected 12 kills, and Georgia Southern tied its season high with 13 blocks to earn a 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-21) Southern Conference volleyball victory over Wofford Saturday afternoon at Johnson Arena.
Katie Bange posted nine kills and six blocks for the Eagles (22-4, 10-2 SoCon), and Kym Coley registered eight kills and eight blocks. Katalin Minnerly tallied 36 assists and six digs, and Crysten Curry finished with five blocks and four kills.
Taylor Baird led the Terriers (11-16, 5-7 SoCon) with 15 kills, and Amanda Liguori posted 10.
The Eagles were ahead 16-11 in the first set when Wofford used a 6-2 run to open a 19-18 lead. Georgia Southern broke a 21-21 tie with three straight points on kills by Jeschelnik and Bange and a Meghan Morillo ace. Wofford got within two on a kill by Wendy Burnett, but the Eagles took the set 25-22 when the Terriers were whistled for a ball-handling error.
Georgia Southern hit .360 in the second set, opened the frame with a 6-1 run and never looked back to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The third set was tighter with five ties and one lead change. With the Eagles clinging to a one-point advantage, Bange got two kills and assisted on a block with Curry to push the margin to 23-19. Curry and Jeschelnik combined on a block to make it match point, and Coley sealed the win with a kill.
Samford 3, Davidson 0BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- Samford Volleyball capped an undefeated weekend Saturday afternoon, sweeping Davidson for the Bulldogs’ eighth conference win of the season.
The Samford (17-10, 8-4 SoCon) offense was firing on all cylinders against Davidson (12-13, 3-8 SoCon), tallying 52 kills and only 14 errors for a .392 hitting percentage, their second-highest total in conference play this season. For the second-straight match, Michaela Reesor scored 20 kills while hitting a stellar .457, her best total in conference play this season. Katie Murphy continued to hit efficiently, earning a .625 clip to bring her season total to .420, which is just shy of her previous single-season high of .427.
The Bulldogs earned 36 digs, their highest total in a three-set match this season, and added 50 assists, making it three-straight matches with at least 50 assists. Chelsi Carter also earned 10 digs on Saturday, bringing her season total to 404, which vaults her to eighth place in the single-season record books at Samford. She is now only 12 digs shy of moving up to fifth all-time.
Davidson held the early momentum in set one, scoring four-consecutive points to jump ahead 6-2. Samford quickly rebounded, tying the set at 7-7 with a quick kill by Stephanie Palmer giving the Bulldogs an 8-7 lead. The set stayed evenly-matched until, tied at 11-11, a 6-2 Bulldog run would give Samford some cushion with a 17-13 lead. With Samford leading 22-19, Davidson took a timeout and eventually fought back to draw within one late, serving down 23-22. A kill by Gabbi Greenwald gave Samford set point and a block by Murphy and Stephanie Palmer sealed it as Samford won, 25-22.
Set two was back-and-forth through the first half, leading to a 13-13 tie. A kill by Reesor sparked a huge run for the Bulldogs, as a 9-1 run that include three service aces by Carter gave the Bulldogs a commanding 22-14 lead. Samford reached set point, 24-16, and Davidson scored a pair of points but Erin Bognar ended it with a kill to give the Bulldogs the 25-18 win and a 2-0 match lead heading into the locker room.
Davidson would score the first point of set three to move up 1-0, but it would be the last lead for the Wildcats for the remainder of the match. Kills by Bognar and Greenwald gave Samford a 2-1 lead which they would not relent, though Davidson would come back to tie the score multiple times. With Davidson serving down 13-12, three unanswered points by Samford would give them their largest lead of the set, 16-12. Davidson would draw back within one, 16-15, and would stay close until, down 21-20, Samford rattled off three-consecutive points to reach match point, 24-20, forcing a Davidson timeout. The Wildcats would briefly stave off elimination with a kill to make it 24-21, but Reesor slammed it home with a kill to win, 25-21, and secure the sweep.
Furman 3, The Citadel 0Greenville, S.C. – The Furman volleyball team swept in-state rival The Citadel on Saturday afternoon (25-22, 25-17, 25-21) for its second SoCon win of the weekend in Alley Gym. The Paladins move to 13-10 (9-3 SoCon) on the season, while the Bulldogs fall to 5-23 (0-12 SoCon). With the win, Furman remains undefeated at home in 2013 (7-0).
Andrea Fisher led the Paladin offense with 16 kills and a season-high .448 hitting percentage. Casey Wells added 8 kills and a career-high .438 hitting percentage, while Ashton Gregory put down 7 kills and added 3 blocks. Jo Wilks dished out 38 assists and Elle Ross tallied a team-high 16 digs. As a team, the Paladins hit .316 with 6 blocks.
The Citadel took an early 5-3 lead in set one, before trading points and allowing the Paladins to tie the score at 10. Furman used three-straight points to take a 13-10 lead and the teams again traded points until The Citadel cut the lead to one at 17-16. The Bulldogs battled back to tie the score at 20, but Furman ended the set on a 5-2 run to win set one, 25-22, and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Furman took a 7-4 lead in set two, before The Citadel cut the lead to one at 7-6. The Paladins then used a 13-3 run to jump out to a 20-10 lead, a deficit the Bulldogs could not overcome. Furman capitalized on key Bulldog errors and won set two, 25-17, to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Paladins hit .536 as a team in set two, the second-consecutive game Furman has hit better than .500 in the second set.
The teams traded points early in set one, before The Citadel took a 12-11 lead. Furman then out-scored the Bulldogs 9-4 over the next part of the match to regain the lead at 20-16. The Citadel cut the lead to two at 23-21, but Furman used a Citadel error and a kill by Casey Wells to take set three, 25-21, and win the match, 3-0.