Chattanooga 3, ETSU 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team claimed a 3-2 come from behind win in a thrilling five-set match against ETSU in Johnson City, Tenn., today. UTC clinched at least a share of the Southern Conference title for the first time since 1998, while improving to 23-5 and 12-3 in the league.
The Bucs came out on fire and jumped to an early 2-0 lead. Chattanooga went down 22-20 in a nerve racking third frame, but the Mocs won five points in a row to clinch the third 25-22.
UTC rolled over ETSU 25-14 in the fourth. Despite being down 11-1 and 14-4 in the fifth, the Mocs fought back, saving 11 match points. Ten of those came with freshman Rachel Petkosh at serve. Junior Allie Davenport served for the match at 20-19, and seniors Sarah Batterton and Lauren Gainer hit the match-winning block.
Davenport posted a season-best 25 kills in addition to 11 digs, her second double-double of the year. Senior Briana Reid tallied her 10th double-double this season with 11 kills and 10 digs.
Junior Kristy Wieser recorded a team-best .348 hitting percentage.
Senior Catherine Chason led the back row with 19 digs, while Gainer paced the squad with four blocks.
Chattanooga wins the league title outright with a win over Western Carolina Saturday at 6 p.m. in Cullowhee, N.C.
UNCG 3, Wofford 1
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford volleyball team was defeated 3-1 by UNCG on Friday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers took the first set, but the Spartans rallied to take the next three sets for the victory (25-22, 15-25, 20-25, 16-25).
With the win, the Spartans improve to 21-9 overall and 11-4 in the Southern Conference. Wofford falls to 15-17 overall and 6-9 in league play with one regular season match remaining.
In the opening set, the Terriers fell behind early as UNCG led 15-11. Wofford scored the next four points to tie the set at 15-15 when the Spartans called timeout. The Terriers added the next two points for a 17-15 advantage. The Spartans tied the set at 17, and it was also tied at 18 and 19 before the Terriers ran off four straight points to take a 23-19 lead. Wofford won the set 25-22 after a kill by Bella Santoro on set point.
The second set was tied at five when the Spartans slowly started to pull away. UNCG had a 22-11 lead before Wofford scored four straight points. The Spartans were able to take the second set 25-15. In the third set, the Terriers were the first to reach ten points with a 10-8 advantage. Wofford continued to hold a one or two point lead until the score was tied at 17. The Spartans scored the next three points for a 20-17 lead and then they put away the set by scoring five of the final eight points.
Wofford trailed in the early stages of the fourth set and found themselves down 10-8. The Spartans pushed the advantage 18-14 before going on a 7-2 run to close out the match.
Alex Holland led the Terriers with 15 kills and a .419 percentage, along with three service aces. Molly May had a match-high 34 assists, Bella Santoro had 20 digs, and Jessica Graham added 17 digs.
For UNCG, Ashley Muench had 14 kills, while Jasmine Jones, Jessica Brezwyn, and Julia Westerbur each had ten or more kills. Allison Penner had 47 assists, while Katherine Santiago recorded 17 digs. As a team, they had a .303 attack percentage.
Wofford closes out the regular season on Saturday against The Citadel for Senior Night at 6 p.m.
Samford 3, Western Carolina 2
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – The Samford University volleyball team extended its win streak to six games as the team also picked up its' first Southern Conference road victory of the season when they downed Western Carolina 3-2 (25-21, 25-20, 21-25, 17-25 19-17) on Friday, Oct. 13, inside the Ramsey Center.
The Bulldogs (14-11, 9-6 SoCon) got outstanding play offensively from the middle blockers from Kiahna Wicks alongside T.J. Russell and defensively from libero Morgan St. Germain. Wicks and Russell tallied a combined 31 kills in the match with each hitting .387 and .462 respectively.
Wicks put down 17 kills and four blocks while Russell complimented her with 14 kills and three blocks. St. Germain had a career night as she scooped up a career-high 37 digs in the five-set affair to keep the Bulldogs offense live for the majority of the match.
Samford opened up play with a pair of set victories to head into the intermission. Junior Erin Bognar paced the offense with 12 kills in the two sets. Bognar finished the night with a double-double of 19 kills and 10 digs in the match.
The Catamounts (11-20, 5-10 SoCon) sprung out of the locker room and played inspired volleyball to win consecutive sets 25-21 and 25-17 over the Bulldogs.
Western Carolina's offense stayed consistent throughout the entire match as they posted attack percentages of .118, .226, .278, 276 and .207. Savannah Kohlhagen paced the Catamounts with 12 kills while Elyssa Mulheron notched 23 digs.
The Bulldogs and the Catamounts went back-and-forth in the deciding fifth set until Samford broke the Western Carolina serve to take the final pair of points and end the set 19-17.
Freshman Krista Boesing and redshirt freshman Kate Neisler rounded out the majority of the offensive output with nine kills and eight kills respectively as the team as a whole tallied 73 kills in the match.
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, Nov. 14, when the team concludes the regular season against ETSU on the road in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Mercer 3, The Citadel 2
CHARLESTON, S.C. – It was senior night and the last home game of the 2015 season inside McAlister Field House on Friday as The Citadel volleyball team lost a gritty five setter to Mercer 3-2.
Senior middle hitter Bailey Kernodle and setter Rachel Keefer were recognized before the game for their accomplishments over the past four years.
The Citadel jumped out to a quick one-set lead over the Bears taking the first set 25-19 behind 14 kills and three service aces from Megan Sowell.
Mercer evened things up in the second set, going on a 6-0 run to close things out and take it 25-20. The Citadel won handedly in the third set, 25-15, after recording 12 kills and a .407 attack percentage. The third set would end after Mercer received two ball handling errors in a row to give the Bulldogs the win. The Bears had six ball handling errors in the third set.
Mercer evened things once again in the fourth set behind a score of 25-20 to set up a deciding fifth set. The Bears jumped out to a 9-3 lead but the Bulldogs scrambled to close the gap to 11-8 behind solid serving from Sowell. The junior finished the contest with six aces, the fourth most in a single game in Bulldog history. Mercer would close the door on the Bulldogs from there though, tallying four straight points to take the 3-2 victory.
Kernodle finished her career inside McAlister with a bang, leading the team in kills with 13. Sowell and Carla Bruce both tallied 11. Sowell also recorded 23 digs for a team best. Keefer led the Bulldogs with a match-high 42 assists. The Citadel was out-blocked 12.0-7.0 in the contest.
The Bulldogs will now travel to Wofford for the last game of the regular season on Saturday. First serve is set for 6 p.m.