Western Carolina 3, Furman 2
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - For the first time since 2007, the Western Carolina volleyball team downed conference foe Furman Wednesday night. The Paladins entered the match with a perfect 5-0 Southern Conference mark and had lost just four matches all year. The Catamounts rallied from a two sets to one deficit to down the Paladins 3-2 inside the Ramsey Center.
The Catamounts are now 4-0 in five-set matches this season and 14-3 all-time under the direction of head coach Karen Glover. The win improves WCU's record to 10-11 overall and 3-4 in SoCon play. The Paladins fell to 12-5 overall and 5-1 in conference action.
Freshman Jo-Leigh Vervelde had a tremendous match as she came up just one kill shy of her first career triple-double. She managed to pick up nine kills, a team-high 28 assists and 24 digs. Senior Addy George continued her strong defensive play as of late with a team-high nine blocks including four solo. She also had eight kills and a pair of digs.
Senior Caitlin Piechota turned in her ninth double-double of the year with 10 kills and 18 digs. She also had a pair of service aces and three blocks. Senior Jordan Timmermann had a team-high 12 kills to go along with a service ace, eight digs and three blocks. The final Catamount with double-digit kills was senior Brandi Anderson who had 10 kills and five blocks.
Freshman Katie O'Connor had an efficient match as she set down seven kills on 11 swings with zero errors. Her .636 attack percentage was a match-high.
Junior libero Elyssa Mulheron had a team-high 26 digs while junior setter Cristina Nazario turned in another double-double with 18 assists and 12 digs.
The Catamounts took advantage of 36 Furman attack errors while also putting down seven service aces. The Paladins had the advantage in kills (70-56) and digs (114-92) but it was the Cats who out-served (7-4) and out-blocked (16-7) the Paladins in route to victory.
Western Carolina jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in set one, before the Paladins cut the lead to one at 3-2. The teams then traded points until Furman used three-straight points to take a 7-6 lead. The teams again traded points until three-straight Catamount points opened up a 17-14 Western Carolina lead, forcing Furman to take its first timeout. Out of the timeout, the Paladins cut the lead to one at 17-16, before the teams again traded points until Western Carolina took a 20-18 lead. The Paladins tied the match at 20, before two-straight Western Carolina points opened up a 22-20 WCU lead, forcing Furman's final timeout of the set. Out of the timeout, two-straight Furman kills forced Western to take its first timeout of the set as the Paladins cut the lead to one at 23-22. Out of the timeout, Western Carolina used a kill to have set point at 24-22, but a Furman kill cut the lead to one at 24-23. Piechota put down the final kill, 25-23, for a 1-0 lead in the match.
Behind kills from Annie Bierman and Ashton Gregory, Furman jumped out to a 5-0 lead in set two, forcing Western Carolina to take an early timeout. Out of the timeout, Meg DeMaar continued to serve for the Paladins until Western Carolina was able to break her serve and score their first point of the set with the score at 10-1 Furman. Western Carolina used a 6-4 run to cut the Paladin lead to seven at 14-7, before the teams again traded points and Furman opened up a 17-8 lead. Western Carolina then used a 5-0 run of its own to cut the Furman lead to 17-13 and force a Paladin timeout. Out of the timeout, the Paladins opened up a 21-14 lead, before Western Carolina rallied to cut the lead to four at 21-17. Three-straight Furman points, including two blocks in a row by Ashton Gregory, gave the Paladins a 24-17 lead before Western again cut into the lead at 23-18. Gregory then put down her team-leading fourteenth kill to give Furman the 25-18 set two win, tying the match at one.
The teams traded points in set three before Western Carolina opened up a two-point lead at 11-9. A Furman kill cut the lead to one at 11-10, before Western Carolina pushed its lead to three at 14-11. Three-straight Paladin points, capped off by an ace, tied the set at 14 and forced Western Carolina to call a timeout. The teams again traded points until Furman opened up its biggest lead of the set at 18-16. Western Carolina rallied to tie the set at 19, then again at 20, before the Catamounts retook the lead at 21-20 on Vervelde kill. Furman then rallied to regain the lead at 22-21, forcing WCU to take its final timeout of the set. The teams traded points out of the timeout until Furman had set point at 24-22. Western Carolina cut the lead to one at 24-23, but the Paladins used another kill by Gregory to take set three, 25-23, and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Catamounts jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in set four, before the teams traded points and Furman again cut the lead to three at 6-3. Western Carolina continued to add to the lead, stretching it to seven at 11-4, forcing a Furman timeout. The teams traded points until Western Carolina opened up a nine point lead at 18-9, forcing Furman's second timeout of the set. Furman couldn't overcome the early deficit and the Catamounts took set four, 25-16, to tie the match at two.
The teams traded points in set five until Western Carolina took an 8-7 lead on a Vervelde kill as the teams switched sides. Western Carolina used two-straight points to stretch the lead to three and force Furman to call a timeout trailing 10-7. Out of the timeout, Western Carolina finished the match on a 5-2 run to take the set, 15-9, and the match, 3-2. The run was capped off by Anderson's 10th kill of the match.
The Paladins were led by Gregory who had a career-high 24 kills to go along with five blocks. Annie Bierman added 17 kills and 14 digs while Andrea Fisher had 14 kills and eight digs.
The Catamounts will close out their four-match homestand this Friday, Oct. 17 at 6 p.m. as they host Mercer. It will mark the first time the Catamounts have faced the Bears in Southern Conference action.
Wofford 3, South Carolina State 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford volleyball team earned a feel-good, non-conference victory Wednesday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena, defeating South Carolina State in straight sets (25-18, 25-19, 25-20).
Fifteen Terriers saw the court in what was Wofford’s eighth three-set win of the season. Freshmen Bella Santoro, Alex Holland and Danni Densford each walked away with a team-high six kills, led by Densford’s .600 hitting percentage on an error-free 10 attempts.
Wofford (10-12, 2-3 SoCon) combined to finish at .212 on the night, which included a .400 attack percentage in the first to set the tone for a one-sided affair. Meanwhile, South Carolina State (2-19, 2-3 MEAC) struggled to hit -.011, finishing the match with 25 attack errors against 24 kills.
Freshman setter Molly Mayo earned a match-high 33 assists and junior libero Jessica Graham led all players with 13 digs.
Prior to the start of the contest, Graham and senior Taylor Baird were presented with commemorative volleyballs for reaching 1,000 career digs and kills, respectively. Graham accomplished the feat Sept. 22 at Converse and Baird reached her milestone two weeks ago, Oct. 1, against Furman.
Wofford took the first point of Wednesday night’s non-conference battle and never trailed in the opening set. The Terriers used a 5-1 run with kills by Densford and Santoro to take a 10-6 lead. The Bulldogs stayed in it and were within a pair at 17-15, but Wofford closed out the first on an 8-3 spurt. Santoro put down the exclamation point with her sixth kill of the set and Wofford took a 1-0 lead.
Again, SC State never saw a lead in the second set. Mayo got it started with an ace and one of sophomore Ellie Tallman’s four kills gave the Terriers a 3-1 start. State remained within a pair at 17-15, until the Terriers scored five straight to go on top by seven. One of Densford’s two blocks came during the run, followed by one of two kills by freshman Tierney Flaherty, pushing the Terriers to a two-set lead.
The third was the only set of the night SC State held a lead. The final one came at 7-6, before the Terriers tied it up on one of redshirt freshman Alyse High’s five kills and never trailed again. A big 5-0 run turned a one-point set into a 19-14 Wofford lead. Flaherty had an ace along the way and the Terriers led by as many as six before High put an end to the match with the final swing.
The Wofford volleyball team gets back to Southern Conference play with a weekend road trip to ETSU and UNCG. The Terriers will play the Buccaneers Friday and Spartans Saturday. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m.
Mercer 3, Savannah State 0
MACON, Ga. – Junior Molly Locke and senior Caroline Carlton combined for 24 kills and the Mercer volleyball team hit a season high .414 hitting percentage en route to a 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-15) victory over Savannah State at Hawkins Arena Wednesday.
The non-conference win pushed Mercer to 5-13 on the year while Savannah State fell to 4-19 overall.
Both Locke and Carlton were near-perfect on attacking attempts in the win, each recording just a single error for hitting percentages north of .500. Locke's 14 kills were earned on 24 attacks for a .542 attacking percentage, while Carlton's 10 kills came on 16 attempts for a .562 efficiency.
Sophomore Hannah Noon piled up a match-high 21 assists to go along with three digs, while sophomore Tori Penrod notched a match-high 17 digs with five assists and a service ace.
Things were fairly even early on before Mercer went on a 13-0 run and ultimately closed the opening frame on a 16-3 surge to take a 1-0 lead. In the second set, the Bears asserted control at the start with a 7-1 charge and never looked back.
In the final frame, Savannah State stayed within two points of Mercer before the Bears broke open a 17-13 lead thanks to a 5-1 burst. The hosts would go on to claim the set 25-15 and secure the first home win of the season.
Mercer jumps back into Southern Conference play at Western Carolina on Friday. Match time is scheduled for 6 p.m.