GREENVILLE, S.C. – Jamila Johnson put down six of her team-high 16 kills in sets four and five and Furman volleyball outlasted Wofford, 3-2 (19-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-10, 15-11) in Alley Gym on Wednesday night. The win moves the Paladins to 17-8 on the year and 11-4 in SoCon play, while the loss drops the Terriers to 15-16 and 6-8 in SoCon play.
Johnson’s 16 kills are just one shy of her career high, and the freshman from Greenville also added two-blocks on the night. Annie Bierman put down 14 kills and added 18 digs for her 17th double-double of the year, while also adding a career-high five blocks. Taina Joseph put down 13 kills while hitting .476 and also tied a career-high with eight blocks. Jo Wilks used 44 assists to surpass 5,000 career assists, the first player in Furman history to reach the 5,000 career assists mark.
The teams traded points early in set one until, with Furman hanging on to a 16-15 lead, Wofford closed out the set on a 10-3 run to take set one, 25-19, for a 1-0 match lead. Set two started as a mirror image of set one, with the teams trading points until Furman used a 7-3 run to take a 21-17 lead and force the Terriers to take their second timeout of the set. The Paladins were able to hold off Wofford’s rally, taking set two, 25-20, to tie the match at one.
Wofford jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in set three, forcing a Furman timeout. Out of the timeout, the Paladins used three kills by Johnson and capitalized on Wofford errors to tie the set at 10. The teams then traded runs until Wofford opened up a 21-17 lead and forced the Paladins to call their final timeout of the set. Wofford stretched the lead to five at 23-18, but a block by Bierman and Joseph and serving by Wilks pulled the Paladins to within two at 23-21 and forced Wofford to take a timeout. The Terriers denied the Paladins comeback, taking set three, 25-21, for a 2-1 match lead.
Set four was all Furman, as the Paladins took an early 15-9 lead, prompting Wofford to use both of its timeouts. Caitlyn Scioscia then served six in a row for Furman, and the Paladins took set four, 25-10, to force a fifth set. The teams traded points early in set five, but Furman rattled off four-straight points to take a two-point lead at 7-5. The Terriers would never overcome the deficit, as Jamila Johnson put down back-to-back slams for Furman and led the Paladins to a 15-11 set five victory, and 3-2 match win.
Furman is back in action on Saturday night in Alley Gym, taking on UNCG in a 6 p.m. regular-season finale.