Chattanooga 3, Austin Peay 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team claimed its fourth victory over its last five sets with a 3-1 win over Austin Peay Tuesday night. Its second midweek win in a row, the Mocs took the first set 25-21, the second 27-25 and the fourth 25-22. The Govs claimed the third 25-2.
The Mocs defense held the APSU hitter to a .178 hitting percentage in the first set. Sophomore Kristy Wieser, leading the Mocs with 13 kills in the match, posted five kills in the set. Nine of UTC’s points came via attacking errors.
The second set was forced to extra points with the teams hitting nearly identical. Chattanooga hit .263 while the Governors hit .262 for the frame. Despite Austin Peay’s 18 attacks, the Mocs came upon its two-point win with the help of Lauren Gainer’s four kills. UTC also posted three total kills with Sarah Batterton and Nicole Sumida with solo blocks, and Wieser and Julimar Alvarado with assisted blocks.
Austin Peay took a convincing 25-12 victory in the third, but UTC stormed back in the fourth 25-22 to win the match. Chattanooga hit a match-best .310 as the Mocs totaled 15 kills. Wieser led with four kills, and both Alvarado and Allie Davenport each had three kills.
In all, three Mocs hit above .300 in the contest. Wieser (.355), Gainer (.333) and Sumida (.429) led the way while setters Lauren Greenspoon and Anne Bachmann were above .300 on limited attacks.
Chattanooga returns to Maclellan Gym Friday to host the Scenic City Showdown tournament. The four-team tournament begins at 3 p.m. Friday and closes Saturday with a 7 p.m. contest with four matches in between.
The Citadel 3, South Carolina State 2
ORANGEBURG, S.C. - The Citadel volleyball team earned its fourth victory of the season in dramatic fashion as it rallied from a 2-1 deficit and overcame match-point in the fifth set to complete a 25-17, 25-27, 23-25, 25-12, 16-14 victory over fellow Lowcountry rival South Carolina State on Tuesday evening.
S.C. State raced out to an early 7-5 lead in the decisive set, keyed by four unforced errors, causing The Citadel to use a timeout in the game's first 12 points. The Cadets eventually drew even, 9-9, after a kill by Bailey Kernodle. Lauren Hurt's service game provided the Bulldogs a three-point edge, before a 5-1 run put S.C. State at match point with a 14-13 lead. Kernodle single-handedly responded with the next three Citadel points, including a kill and a service ace, as the Cadets triumphed 16-14.
The Dogs (4-7) were sparked by the play of senior Ise d'Angelo who tallied 19 kills in 41 attempts, closing with a .341 attack percentage. She was joined in double-digit kills by Kernodle (14), Hurt (10) and Dominique Williams (10). Setter Rachel Keefer, who handed out 44 assists, was the sparkplug to an offensive unit that combined for 61 kills.
The Citadel also received several solid defensive efforts including a combined eight assisted blocks from the duo of Hurt and Mallory Moore. D'Angelo also made an impact on defense with eight digs, while classmate Amanda Rudnik led the team with 15 digs.
Leading the way for South Carolina State statistically were Marissa Lawrence (19 kills) and Erica Pritchett (12). Tyler Ockleberry contributed a match-high 20 digs, while Shandice Sluch added 11, giving S.C. State 51 digs in the contest. Kirby Anderson also made her presence felt for the Bulldogs with six assisted blocks, while Sluch turned back five Citadel attempts.
Clinging to a one point advantage early in the first match The Citadel used a pair of kills by Moore to stretch its lead to 16-11. S.C. State pushed back, moving within three, before a series of kills by Hurt forged the Cadets in front 20-13. The Citadel allowed just four points and capitalized on two Moriah Smith kills down the stretch to complete the 25-17 win.
S.C. State, behind two kills each by Pritchett and Lawrence, opened up the second set on a 14-8 run. The Citadel, looking to redeem itself after eight unforced errors, eventually trimmed the deficit to 19-17 following a series of strikes by Moore and d'Angelo. As the two teams battled down the stretch they forced five ties, including a 25-25 deadlock, before Anderson gave the Bulldogs a 27-25 victory on a service ace.
The third set followed a similar mold to the second as S.C. State opened an early lead before The Citadel battled back. The Bulldogs, behind three kills from Anderson, assumed a 14-9 advantage. An offensive surge by The Citadel, highlighted by a Dominique Williams strike, was answered by kills from Lawrence and Ashante Finne as S.C. State staved off a late Citadel rally to take the third set 25-23.
The Citadel regained its momentum in the fourth set behind two service aces each from Hurt, Kernodle and d'Angelo en route to a 17-6 lead. The Bulldogs continued to pour it on with timely kills by Williams and Kernodle down the stretch to complete the 25-12 win.
The Citadel returns to action on Friday afternoon when it begins its final in-season tournament of the year at South Carolina. The Bulldogs open the Carolina Classic with a meeting against Eastern Kentucky at 1 p.m. That is followed by a 4 p.m. meeting with Norfolk State. The tournament concludes on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. when the Dogs face host South Carolina.
Western Carolina 3, UNC Asheville 0
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Caitlin Piechota had 16 kills to lead Western Carolina University to a 3-0 volleyball victory over homestanding UNC Asheville Tuesday night at Justice Center. The Catamounts won the match by the scores of 25-21, 25-15, 25-19.
WCU (5-5) won at the Justice Center for the first time since the 2002 season. The Catamounts were in control for most of the match as they held off Asheville comebacks in the first and third sets to record the win. Elyssa Mulherson led the WCU effort on defense with 14 digs.
Asheville (2-9) was led by Christine Lakatos with eight kills and nine digs. Shelby Erickson added seven kills, seven digs and two service aces.
The first set saw Asheville sprint out to an early lead before WCU's attack took over. The Catamounts got kills from Jordan Timmerman and Piechota to build a 20-14 lead.
Asheville stormed back to close the lead to 22-21 on a kill from Lakatos. But WCU picked up two kills from Piechota to take a 24-21 lead before a hitting error from Asheville ended the first set.
In the second set, Western Carolina cruised to a 25-15 win.
In the third set, the Bulldogs led early only to see Piechota and Timmerman take over and push WCU to a 20-13 lead. Asheville stormed back behind Lakatos. She had three kills as the home team closed to 21-19. But a hitting error by the Bulldogs gave WCU a 22-19 lead. The Cats finished the match off with three straight points and the victory.
Western Carolina will be back in action this weekend, Sept. 19-20, as the Catamounts compete in the Deacon Classic hosted by Wake Forest University. WCU will take on Elon, Winthrop and host Wake Forest.
Tennessee State 3, ETSU 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The ETSU volleyball team was unable to build off its win against Georgia Tech as Tennessee State dropped the Buccaneers in four sets (21-25, 25-21, 23-25, 22-25) on Tuesday night inside Kean Hall.
The Bucs, who defeated Georgia Tech in five sets last Saturday at Lipscomb, returned back to the Music City on Tuesday night, but things didn’t go as planned for the Blue and Gold.
After the teams split the first two sets, the Tigers won the third and fourth sets to clinch their home opener and defeated ETSU for the first time in program history.
ETSU (4-7) was led by senior Meredith Hardy as she finished with 16 kills and four blocks, while also hitting .609 (16-2-23) for the match. Freshman Rylee Milhorn and senior Ivey Rice also recorded double-digit kills for the Bucs, but it was poor serving that led to ETSU’s demise. Riced added 15 kills and four blocks, while Milhorn totaled 10 kills on .310 attack percentage (10-1-29).
However, in a tightly contested match that featured 33 ties and 13 lead changes, the most glaring stat was the 14 points the Bucs handed Tennessee State on service errors. Overall, ETSU finished with three more kills (54-51) than the Tigers, while also out-blocking Tennessee State, 11-3.
The service miscues started from the get-go as the Bucs were charged with six in the opening set, resulting in Tennessee State winning the opener, 25-21. The first two Tiger points came via service errors by the Blue and Gold, and after ETSU pulled within one midway through the set at 16-15, Tennessee State broke away with an 8-2 run to go up seven, 24-17. Despite the Bucs dodging set point four times, ETSU couldn’t overcome the deficit as a kill by Taylor Swayzer lifted Tennessee State to the three-point win.
The Bucs used the powerful hitting by Rice and Milhorn to pull out a 25-21 win in the second en route to tying the match at one. Rice (six) and Milhorn (five) accounted for 11 of ETSU’s 17 kills in the frame. Prior to securing the four-point win, the largest lead of the set was three, when an attack error by Swayzer gave the Bucs a 14-11 advantage. With ETSU holding onto a one-point lead, 17-16, the Blue and Gold won eight of the final 13 points of the set to even up the match.
Despite the final two sets being nip-and-tuck, and ETSU holding leads midway through both frames, the Bucs were unable to find a way to win.
In the third, ETSU held a 15-14 lead, but a service error by Bethany Gesell ignited a 5-0 Tennessee State run, putting the Tigers ahead, 19-15. Tennessee State never gave up its lead as the Tigers fought off a late Buccaneer surge to walk away with the 25-23 win. The Bucs battled off three set points until Samantha Beltran found Swayzer for her fifth kill of the frame.
Then, in the fourth, the Bucs were ahead 14-12, but a 6-1 Tiger spurt gave Tennessee State all the momentum needed to close out the match, 25-22. Following the run, Tennessee State led by three, 18-15, and ETSU could only pull within two points on six different possessions before the Tigers ended the night with a kill from Arijana Anderson.
Swayzer led all players with 17 kills, while Anderson (10) and Haley Hampton (11) also finished with double figure kills. Beltran directed the offense as she recorded 41 of the Tennessee State’s 50 assists, and the Tigers also had three players reach double-digit digs. Naomi Wells led the team with 17 digs, while Taylor Patterson tallied 16 and Ileanushka Maldonado totaled 13.
Senior libero Katie Muey finished with a match-high 20 digs.
After dropping its first six matches to start the season, Tennessee State has now won four of its last five and improved to 4-7.
The Bucs wrap up their preseason tournament schedule this weekend as ETSU heads to Richmond for the VCU Invitational. The Bucs open the tournament with Ball State Friday at noon.
High Point 3, UNCG 0
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The UNCG volleyball team could not find its rhythm Tuesday night, dropping a 3-0 (22-25, 17-25, 22-25) decision to High Point in a non-conference match at the Millis Center. The Spartans drop to 7-3 overall while the Panthers are now 4-6.
UNCG hit just .093 on the evening with 28 kills and 18 errors in 108 attempts. Conversely, High Point played arguably its finest offensive match of the season, hitting .227 with 45 kills on 110 swings. The Panthers also accrued more assists (44-27) and digs (55-39) while the Spartans out-blocked their hosts 7.0-5.0.
Sophomore outside hitter Jessica Brezwyn finished with 11 kills and hit .222. She fell just one dig short of a double-double, picking up nine. Kristin Heldt paced High Point with 14 kills and a .414 hitting mark.
UNCG grabbed an early lead at 6-2 on an attacking error by Haley Barnes. The Spartans then took a 14-12 advantage with Sidney put down a kill, but the Panthers responded with an 8-3 run to push ahead 20-17. Unfazed, the Blue and Gold scored three-straight point to knot the score at 20. However, after leading 22-21, High Point scored the final four points of the set to take it 25-22.
The second set saw UNCG jump out to a 3-0 lead but the home side quickly tied it at four on a service ace. The Panthers seized control in the middle of the set and forced a Spartan timeout leading 13-9. The Blue and Gold could not get back into the set as High Point extended its lead to 18-12 and closed out the frame 25-17.
The teams played to an 11-11 deadlock in the third set before UNCG took a 19-18 edge on a Panther attacking error. The Spartans allowed High Point a 4-1 run but pulled within 22-21 on a kill by Sidney. However, the Panthers scored three of the last four points to clinch the sweep.
UNCG returns to action this weekend (Sept. 19-20), traveling to Miami, Fla. for the Hurricane Challenge. The Spartans will face off against the University of Miami and Missouri during the two-day event.