Furman 3, Mercer 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Down six points in set three, Furman volleyball showed resilience and rallied to take set three, 26-24, to complete the sweep of Mercer (25-17, 25-18, 26-24) on Saturday, Senior Day in Alley Gym. The loss pushes the Paladins to 19-6 overall and 12-2 in SoCon play, while the loss drops Mercer to 10-18, 5-9 in SoCon play. The Paladins finish out the home portion of 2014 at 8-1, 7-1 in Alley Gym.
Senior Andrea Fisher led the way for the Paladins, putting down a team-high 18 kills, just one error, and a season-high .607 hitting percentage, adding two service aces and a block. Ashton Gregory again hit in double figures for Furman, putting down 13 kills, a .385 hitting percentage and a team-high three blocks. Meg DeMaar turned in a team-high 10 digs, while Jo Wilks dished out 37 assists. Senior Katie Harrell also added two digs in her final game in Alley Gym.
The teams traded points early in set one, before Furman used six-straight points to take a 13-6 lead. The teams then traded points until the Paladins stretched the lead to 17-9, forcing Mercer to take its second timeout of the set. The teams continued to trade points, until the Paladins opened their biggest lead of the set at 22-13. Mercer cut into the lead at 23-16, but the Paladins held off the Bears’ rally, taking set one, 25-17.
The teams again traded points in set two, before, with the Paladins up 5-4, Furman rattled off nine straight points to take a 14-4 lead. The Bears cut the lead to seven at 16-9, but Furman added to the lead, stretching it to 20-11. The teams then traded points before Mercer used three-straight to cut into the Furman lead at 24-18. An Annie Bierman kill ended the Mercer threat, giving the Paladins a 25-18 set two win, and a 2-0 match lead.
It was Mercer who opened up a big lead in set three, forcing Furman to take its first timeout of the match with the Bears leading 11-6. The Bears continued to add to their lead, pushing it to 16-8, prompting Furman to take its final timeout of the set. The Paladins clawed their way back into the match out of the timeout, cutting the Bears’ lead to four at 16-12. The teams traded points until Furman cut the Mercer lead to two at 21-19, forcing Mercer to call its final timeout. The teams traded points until Mercer had set point at 24-21. Furman used a kill by Ashton Gregory to cut the lead to two at 24-22, then rattled off four-straight points, including two Gregory kills and a Payton Frappier ace to finish out the rally and take set three, 26-24, and the match, 3-0.
Furman is back in action next Friday night as they travel to Birmingham, Ala., to face Samford in an 8:00 pm (ET) match.
ETSU 3, Samford 1
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Emotions were riding high inside Brooks Gym on Saturday.
Prior to the match, the Bucs honored their senior class with a pregame celebration, and following ETSU’s four-set win over Samford (25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 29-27), Senior Day turned into some glitz and glamour for senior outside hitter Ivey Rice.
Following an intense comeback win to seal the match in four, Ivey’s fiancé took to the microphone and proposed to Rice in front of the Buccaneer faithful.
Without hesitation, Rice said “Yes,” and was wearing a shiny diamond at the post-match press conference.
On the court, Rice helped fuel ETSU’s offense in the third and fourth sets as she totaled eight of her 13 kills in the final two frames, while also posting a .312 (13-3-32) attack percentage. Fellow seniors Bethany Gesell and Meredith Hardy were also solid offensively for the Blue and Gold as they combined for 31 kills. Gesell totaled a team-high 17 kills and added five digs, while Hardy – who has now registered at least one block in 122 straight matches – finished with 14 kills (.407 attack percentage) and five blocks.
ETSU’s offense was cycled through sophomore Kristen Favre and senior Jamie Rutledge as the duo accounted for 46 of the Bucs’ 53 assists. Favre ended with 31 assists, six digs and three service aces, while Rutledge tallied 15 assists and three blocks in her final home game for the Blue and Gold. Defensively, senior libero Katie Muey (Alexandria, Ind.) was dominate again in the back row as she led all players with 28 digs and pitched in with two aces.
With the stats nearly identical for each team, ETSU’s plus-5 margin (56-51) in kills was the difference maker. Both teams finished with 57 digs, while the Bulldogs won the blocks battle by a half-point, 10.0-9.5. The Bucs managed to register three more service aces than Samford, 7-4, but the Blue and Gold finished with three more service errors, 13-10.
ETSU capped off another successful home season as the Blue and Gold recorded their ninth straight home win, improving to 15-15, 9-5, while the Bulldogs dipped to 16-11, 10-4. Overall, the Bucs have now won 28 of their last 31 matches inside Brooks Gym.
The Bucs wrap up regular season play on the road next weekend as ETSU plays at The Citadel on Friday night (6 p.m.) and at Mercer Saturday afternoon (1 p.m.).
UNCG 3, Chattanooga 1
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG volleyball team let a late lead slip away in the first set Saturday against Chattanooga, but the Spartans captured the next three frames to post a 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-18) Southern Conference victory on Senior Night inside Fleming Gymnasium. The Blue and Gold honored seniors Kelsey Sidney, Vicky Harley and Emily McMurtrey before the match.
With the win, UNCG reached double figures in conference victories for the second-straight season as they are now 18-10 overall and 10-5 in league play. Meanwhile, the Mocs drop to 12-17 and 5-9.
Fittingly, Sidney led all players with 18 kills on 34 attempts while hitting .324 in her final regular season appearance in Fleming Gymnasium. Harley tallied eight kills and two blocks while McMurtrey chipped in with four digs.
Sophomore setter Sara Hohman notched her 16th double-double of the season with 48 assists and 13 digs while fellow sophomore and outside hitter Jessica Brezwyn recorded a double-double of her own with 11 kills and 12 digs. Junior libero Katherine Santiago paced the defense with 16 digs. For Chattanooga, Kristy Wieser put down 12 kills and Melissa Green picked up 18 digs.
After hitting below .200 in the first two sets, UNCG rebounded to fire at .458 and .275 in the final two stanzas to end up with a .233 (59k/25e/146ta) mark for the match. The Mocs ended up at .176 (44k/19e/142ta). The Spartans out-dug the Mocs 69-51 while both squads tallied seven service aces. Chattanooga won the blocking battle 8.0-5.0.
UNCG jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the first set after a kill by freshman outside hitter Ashley Muench, forcing an early UTC timeout. The Spartans led by as much as 19-15 late in the stanza before the Mocs mounted a rally. After a pair of attacking errors by Muench shrunk the UNCG advantage to just one at 20-19, the Spartans signaled for timeout. Chattanooga was able to knot the score at 21 before scoring the final four points of the set to take it 25-21.
The Mocs netted five of the first six points of the second frame, but redshirt junior middle hitter Julia Westerbur stepped up the service line and did not leave it for 10 points as UNCG turned the tables and built an 11-5 cushion after a kill by Harley. A later kill by Westerbur put the Spartan advantage at 17-12 before UTC scored three straight to pull within 17-15. UNCG settled down at that point and played much more in control as the Blue and Gold extended its lead to 20-15. It would be enough for the Spartans to clinch the second set 25-21 and tie the match at intermission.
As the teams began the third stanza, Chattanooga scored seven of the first nine points to force an early UNCG timeout. The Spartans were able to put together a 7-4 run capped by a Hohman ace to pull within 11-9. The Mocs scraped together a 17-15 edge after an ace by Green, but the serving of sophomore defensive specialist Mackenzie Moughon allowed UNCG to score the next four points. With the Blue and Gold in the lead 19-18, a kill by Brezwyn and a ball-handling error by Green stretched the Spartan cushion to 21-18. UNCG would allow the visitors just one more point the rest of the frame as the Spartans took a 25-19 victory to pull ahead two sets to one.
The Blue and Gold scored six of the first eight points of the fourth set and did not let up. UTC was forced to burn its second and final timeout after a Hohman ace made the score 14-8. The Spartans took leads of 18-11 and 22-15 before closing the match out 25-18.
UNCG closes the regular season in one week’s time, heading down to Charleston for a match at The Citadel. The Nov. 15 math is scheduled for 5 p.m. inside McAlister Fieldhouse. The Spartans handled the Bulldogs 3-0 earlier this season in Greensboro.
Western Carolina 3, Wofford 0
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - For the first time since 2001 the Catamounts of the Western Carolina volleyball team will end the season with just one home loss after a 3-0 sweep of Wofford inside the Ramsey Center Saturday afternoon. The Catamounts are now 9-1 at home this season. WCU honored its four seniors prior to the match including Brandi Anderson, Addy George, Caitlin Piechota and Jordan Timmermann.
The four along with their teammates needed just an hour and 16 minutes to dispatch the visiting Terriers, 3-0. Piechota led the way with 14 kills and 10 assists for her 52nd double-double of her career. George led the way defensively with eight blocks including one solo stop. She also added five kills. Timmermann had five kills, six digs and two blocks while Anderson added four kills and a block.
Freshman Katie O'Connor continued her strong weekend of action with seven kills and a block while freshman Jo-Leigh Vervelde had five kills, 21 assists, four blocks and three digs.
Junior setter Cristina Nazario had 13 assists and six digs while junior libero Elyssa Mulheron led the team with 13 digs.
The Catamounts won 25-21, 25-19 and 25-21 to improve to 16-13 overall and 9-6 in SoCon play. The Terriers fell to 12-19 overall and 4-10 in conference.
The opening set was close throughout but the Terriers only led 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1. With the score tied at nine, WCU used a short 4-0 run, that featured two kills from Piechota and one from O'Connor, to take a 13-9 lead. The Catamounts would maintain the lead until a 4-0 run by the Terriers tied the set at 20. From that point on Wofford would score just one more point the rest of the set as WCU went on to win 25-21. George closed out the set with a kill off an assist from Vervelde.
The Catamounts opened up the second set with a 5-0 run and never looked back as they held the lead the entire way. Piechota had five kills in the set while O'Connor added four. WCU won 25-19.
The third set was back-and-forth early but with the score tied at 11 WCU used a 5-1 run to break open the set. The Catamounts never trailed from that point on and a kill from Piechota ended senior day with the Cats winning 25-21. Vervelde led the way in the period with four kills while Piechota added three.
Wofford was led by Taylor Baird who had 14 kills on the day.
With the win, the Catamounts have now defeated every Southern Conference member this season at least once. WCU closes out the regular season next Sunday at Mercer with a 2 p.m. start.