Baird hit .463 with just one error on 41 attempts and Tallman came in at .409, committing just a pair of errors on 22 attempts. Tallman’s 11 kills marked a season-high for the freshman outside hitter.

Senior Amanda Liguori registered 15 kills, hitting .125, and had 14 digs for her 10th double-double of the season. Classmate Bekah Dorsey also had a double-double, earning 46 assists and 10 digs. Dorsey’s double-double was her 11th of the season to lead all Terriers. Meanwhile, sophomore libero Jessica Graham totaled a match-high 25 digs and had a team-high two aces. 

Andrea Fisher led the Paladin offense with 15 kills, hitting .370. Annie Bierman set a career-high with a .444 hitting percentage while putting down 14 kills, and Ashton Gregory recorded a new-career high with a .714 hitting percentage (five kills). Casey Wells hit .467 for the Paladins (seven kills), while Jo Wilks dished out 41 assists and Elle Ross added a team-high 12 digs. As a team, Furman hit .417 and held UNCG to a .245 hitting percentage.

UNCG jumped out to an early 7-6 lead in set one, before Jo Wilks served the Paladins on a 6-0 run to take a 12-7 lead. The teams then traded points and UNCG cut the Paladin lead to two at 15-13, But Furman then used a 5-1 run to push their lead out to 20-14. UNCG could not overcome the deficit, and Furman took set one, 25-19. Andrea Fisher led the Paladins in set one, putting down 7 kills and hitting .778.

UNCG again took the early lead in set two at 7-5, but Furman battled back to tie the set at 7 and later at 10. Furman took a 13-11 lead, before UNCG tied the match at 13. The Paladins then used a 7-3 run to jump out to a 20-16 lead and force a UNCG timeout. The Spartans cored out of the timeout to cut the lead to 20-17, but Furman closed the match on a 5-2 run to take set two, 25-19, and take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Paladins hit a blistering .500 in set two, led by Annie Bierman who put down eight kills and hit .667.

The Paladins made quick work of the Spartans in set three, taking a 17-9 lead to open the match and force a UNCG timeout. After the timeout, the Spartans cut the lead to 17-11, but the Paladins continued to add to their lead, making it 23-14. UNCG used a 4-1 run to cut the Furman lead to 24-18, but the Paladins finished the set on a kill by Andrea Fisher, to win set three 25-18 and the match, 3-0.

Karrian Chambers led the Spartans with 14 kills and a .520 hitting percentage, while Jessica Brezwyn added 10 kills. Vicky Harley hit .462 and Sara Hohman led the team with 20 assists.

Davidson 3, The Citadel 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. – Hitting a season-best .402, the Davidson volleyball team efficiently took care of SoCon foe The Citadel, sweeping the Bulldogs 3-0 Friday evening at Belk Arena. The Cats took the match in set scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 25-11 to improve to 14-13 overall and 5-8 in the SoCon.

In addition to a season-high team attacking percentage, the Wildcats also finished with a season-low 10 errors. They held the Bulldogs (5-15, 0-14 SoCon) to just .091, marking the second time this season they have held an opponent to under .100.

Megan Chamberlin and Taylor Pisel led Davidson will 12 kills apiece. Pisel also was also one of the team’s most accurate hitters, finishing at .579. Chamberlin hit .391 with a block assist, while Caroline Brown hit .211 with eight kills and ten digs in addition to a pair of block assists.

Mikayla Derochie had 36 assists on the evening, adding in four kills to hit .600. She also dug three balls and was credited with a block assist and a service ace. Tindall Sewell had a solo block to go with a pair of block assists, and added six kills in hitting .278. Morgan Shannon led the defensive effort with 16 kills and chipped in seven assists on the evening. Emily Franklin hit .444 with four kills and a pair of block assists in helping the squad total 5.0 team blocks.

Amanda Rudnik and Ise d’Angelo led The Citadel with six kills apiece, with d’Angelo hitting .417 to lead the way. Rachel Keefer assisted on 20 of the Bulldogs’ 49 kills and was also credited with six digs. Erin Bucherl dug a team-high nine balls, while Lauren Hurt added two total blocks to go along with a service ace.

After a rocky start in which they found themselves down 4-0, the Wildcats dug their way out of the hole and into a 12-7 advantage on an ace by Derochie in set one. Derochie added a pair of kills, as did Brown, in helping the Cats to a 19-15 lead. Though the Bulldogs cut the deficit to three at 21-18 on a kill from Rudnik, Chamberlin slammed down a pair of kills while Jenna Ptaschinski picked up an ace as the Wildcats scored the final four points to win the set 25-18.

Davidson rolled to a 10-4 lead on a kill by Pisel to start set two. Three straight from the Cats put them in front 15-8 on a Citadel error, before a pair of kills from Sewell made it a 19-11 set. Pisel added three more kills, but it was Chamberlin who came up with the set-winning point as Davidson took the 25-17 win to lead the match 2-0.

Franklin assisted on a block before adding in a kill in helping the Wildcats to an 11-4 advantage in set three. Back-to-back kills made it 15-6 in favor of Davidson, forcing the Bulldogs to call timeout. The Wildcats scored five straight to put themselves in position to clinch the win, but The Citadel’s Maureen Wilkinson came up with a kill to end the streak. However, Hannah Rau would end things on the next play, slamming down a kill for the 25-11 win as Davidson took the match 3-0.

With the win, Samford (18-10, 9-4 SoCon) has now won the past four-straight meetings against Appalachian State (16-11, 7-6 SoCon), bringing the all-time series record to 7-5 in the Bulldogs’ favor.  Greenwald earned her third double-double of the season with 10 kills and a career-high 14 digs, which was second on the team only trailing Chelsi Carter’s 19 digs.  Palmer earned her team-leading fourth double-double of the season, tallying 51 assists and 12 digs.  For the third-straight match, Michaela Reesor earned 20 kills, finishing just two digs shy of a double-double.  The Bulldogs also played tall at the net, earning nine team blocks while Taylor Palmer led the team with five (two solo, three assisted).

Appalachian State started off hot to open set one, jumping ahead 7-3 before the Bulldogs came back to eventually even the match at 10-10.  From there, Samford started to pull away, using an 11-4 run to move up 21-14 as the Mountaineers burned both their timeouts in the process.  The home team regrouped and managed to draw back within four, down 23-19.  A kill by Reesor gave the Bulldogs set point, 24-19, but Samford could not end it as Appalachian State earned two points to make it 24-21, forcing a Samford timeout.  An Appalachian State service ace made it 24-22 but Taylor Palmer and Greenwald paired up for a set-ending block on the next point as the Bulldogs won, 25-22.

The Mountaineers started off hot again early in set two, scoring seven unanswered points to jump ahead 11-4.  Appalachian State would move ahead by as much as nine points, 16-7, before Samford’s offense started to find its footing by scoring four points to draw within five, 16-11, forcing a Mountaineer timeout.  Three more points after the break drew Samford within two, 16-14, but Appalachian State kept Samford at arm’s length, extending the lead to eventually win the set, 25-18, and even the match at 1-1.

Following the halftime break, Samford started set three by building a 9-5 lead, capped by back-to-back kills by Taylor Palmer and Greenwald.  Appalachian State would make it a one-point game, trailing 11-10, but Samford responded with three quick points to make it 14-10 as the Mountaineers took a timeout.  Appalachian State would remain resilient down the stretch, drawing within one multiple times, but the Bulldogs would not give up the lead, as a kill by Murphy gave Samford the 25-22 set win and a 2-1 match lead.

The fourth set was the most tightly-contested of the match, seeing 14 tie scores and four lead changes, which is more than the previous three sets combined.  With neither team able to take more than a two-point lead, the teams battled in the first half of the set, with Appalachian State finally taking its first timeout after three-straight points for the Bulldogs gave Samford an 18-16 lead.  Appalachian State quickly tied it up, 18-18, and took a 21-19 lead to force Samford to take a timeout.  Samford would fight back to tie it, 22-22, and an Appalachian State attack error would give Samford back the lead as Appalachian State took its final timeout trailing 23-22.  Samford reached match point, 24-23, but Appalachian State tied it to force the set past the 25-point mark.  Samford reached match point a second time, 25-24, off a kill by Reesor and Erin Bognar ended it with a kill to give Samford the 26-24 set win and 3-1 match victory.