Chattanooga 3, ETSU 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team beat ETSU in an exciting 3-1 win Friday in Chattanooga, Tenn. The match was a battle for the No. 1 spot in the Southern Conference, which improved UTC to 17-3 and 6-1 in league action.
Before the match, the Mocs and the Bucs were at the top of the league with 5-1 records.
Chattanooga dominated the first set with a 25-13 showing. After going down 5-0 to start the second, UTC worked their way back. Following 13-13, the Mocs led for the rest of the set, winning 25-16.
The Bucs came back after the intermission to claim the third 25-22, but Chattanooga bounced back to clinch the match 25-16 in the fourth.
ETSU is known for its blocking, leading the SoCon with 2.35 per set. However, the Mocs didn't allow the Bucs a block until the third frame. UTC racked up 12 blocks, in comparison to ETSU's seven.
Three Mocs posted double-digit kills, including senior Sarah Batterton with 16, and juniors Allie Davenport and Kristy Wieser racked up 12 and 11 respectively.
Chattanooga marked a .255 attack percentage with the help of sophomore Lauren Greenspoon making 44 assists.
Senior Catherine Chason led the back row at 20 digs. Freshman Miranda Elpers recorded 14 and senior Briana Reid had 13.
The Mocs are back in Maclellan Gym Saturday at 6 p.m. for another SoCon matchup against Samford.
Mercer 3, Samford 1
MACON, Ga. – In front of a frenzied crowd, the Mercer volleyball team kept its home unbeaten streak alive on Friday evening, defeating Samford by a final score of 3-1 to improve to 7-0 in Hawkins Arena.
The Bears got off to a slow start, as Samford’s attack was too much for Mercer in the first frame and the Bulldogs took the opener 25-20. The Orange and Black responded in the second and won the set 25-21 to level the match at a set apiece.
Freshman Paige Alsten turned in another great performance at the net on both offense and defense. The middle blocker turned in six kills on just 10 attempts while making one error for a hitting percentage of .500. Alsten was even more influential from a defensive aspect, blocking a team-high five attempts to help stall the Samford attack. Alsten also added a dig on the evening.
Junior Tori Penrod entered Friday one dig shy of the 1,000 dig milestone. Early in the first set the junior recorded a dig to reach the impressive plateau. Penrod finished with a team-high 15 digs in the match. Penrod has totaled double-digit digs in all 17 matches she has played this season. Penrod also added five assists to complete her match.
Mercer’s fourth straight victory pushes its record to 9-11 on the season and 4-4 in league action. The Bulldogs fall to 8-8 on the year and 3-3 in Southern Conference play.
The Orange and Black is back on the floor Saturday at 1 p.m. Mercer welcomes Furman to Hawkins Arena for the second matchup between the two sides this season.
UNCG 3, Wofford 1
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Fleming Gymnasium has certainly been kind to the UNCG volleyball team this season and the magic continued Friday evening as the Spartans downed Wofford 3-1 (25-17, 19-25, 25-18, 25-14) for their fourth-straight victory.
UNCG is now 7-0 at home in 2015 and 17-4 under head coach Corey Carlin. The Spartans also improved to 29-1 under Carlin when winning the first set in a match. The Blue and Gold has won all 14 matches this year in which it has captured the first frame.
UNCG racked up 55 kills in the match and made just 11 unforced errors to end up with a .281 hitting percentage. Conversely, the Terriers committed 18 unforced errors in 141 attempts to hit just .113. The Spartans also had the better of the blocking 9.0 to 6.0 while Wofford recorded five aces to UNCG’s three.
Freshman setter Allison Penner recorded a double-double of 45 assists and 10 digs while senior defensive specialist Katherine Santiago - the league leader in digs per set - collected a match-high 25. Freshman defensive specialist Christina Gregory also reached double digits with 10 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Ashley Muench notched a match-high 15 kills and hit .233 in four sets played while junior outside Jessica Brezwyn added 14 and freshman middle hitter Jasmine Jones tallied 12. Jones hit .455 with just two errors and chipped in with five block assists.
As for Wofford, Lauren Miller led the Terriers with 12 kills but their top hitter entering the match Bella Santoro managed just five kills and hit negative (-.057). Jessica Graham paced Wofford defensively with 19 digs.
Wofford attempted to keep the match alive in set four but was forced to call for a timeout after a 4-1 run helped the Spartans break open a close scoreline and lead it 14-10. The Terriers began to error themselves out of the match and UNCG took full advantage. The Blue and Gold built leads of 17-10 and 23-13 before cementing the win with an 11-point margin of victory in the set.
UNCG heads back on the road Sunday as it travels to Western Carolina for a 2 p.m. first serve. The Spartans look to complete the season sweep of the Catamounts after capturing a 3-0 win in Greensboro back on Oct. 3.
Western Carolina 3, The Citadel 1
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – The Western Carolina volleyball team snapped its six-match losing streak Friday night inside the Ramsey Center as the Catamounts defeated The Citadel 3-1. Senior libero Elyssa Mulheron returned to the lineup after a four-match absence due to injury and picked up a season high 34 digs.
Mulheron also tied for the team lead with a pair of service aces. Sophomore Jo-Leigh Vervelde came up just shy of her eighth triple-double of the season with 11 kills, 24 assists and seven digs. She also tied for the team lead with six blocks in the match.
The Catamounts used a strong presence at the net and an efficient offensive performance to pick up their second Southern Conference win of the season. WCU improved to 8-16 overall and 2-6 in league play while the Bulldogs of The Citadel fell to 6-17 and 0-7 in conference action.
WCU out-blocked the Bulldogs 12-3 with six different Catamounts picking up blocks. The Catamounts also hit over .300 in both the first and third sets and finished with a team attack percentage of .201 while holding The Citadel to .074.
Freshman Alyssa Zupan had 11 kills on 32 swings with just one error while also picking up five blocks. Senior Nicole Ford also had a productive night with nine kills on 19 swings and one error with a team-high six blocks. Sophomore Katie O'Connor also was nearly flawless with nine kills on 17 swings and one error while blocking four Bulldog attacks.
Sophomore Lucy Lambert came off the bench to pick up 13 digs while senior setter Cristina Nazario dished out 18 assists.
The Bulldogs were led by Megan Sowell who had 11 kills and 16 digs. Moriah Smith, who came into the match fourth in the SoCon in kills per set, was held to just three kills.
WCU will take Saturday off before returning to the court against UNCG on Sunday at 2 p.m.