Georgia Southern 3, UNCG 0

STATESBORO, Ga. - Meredith Paskert led three Eagles in double-figure kills with 12 and hit .360 for the match to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-21) Southern Conference volleyball win over UNCG in Hanner Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon.

Nicole Jeschelnik added 11 kills for the Eagles (15-6, 6-1 SoCon), and Moriah Bellissimo collected 10 kills and nine digs. Kate Van Dyke registered 38 assists, and Crysten Curry tallied seven kills and three blocks.

Karrian Chambers led the Spartans (10-9, 4-3 SoCon) with 12 kills to go along with eight digs. Kelsey Sidney and Morgan Freeman each posted six kills.

The Eagles held UNCG to .165 hitting in the match while posting a .306 percentage. Kym Coley hit .500 for Georgia Southern with five kills on 10 swings, and Curry hit .385 in 13 attempts.

A 6-2 run late in the first set, with kills by Curry, Coley and Jeschelnik, turned a two-point lead into a 23-17 cushion as the Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the match. Georgia Southern pushed a three-point lead to 21-15 with the help of kills by Bellissimo, Coley and Curry en route to winning the second set.

The Eagles never trailed in the third set and jumped out to a 6-1 lead, scoring two points during Alexandra Beecher's serve and three during Van Dyke's. UNCG got to within two points at 12-10 but would get no closer as a 4-1 run by the Eagles, capped by consecutive Bellissimo kills, pushed the margin back to five. The Spartans never got closer than three points the rest of the way.

Furman 3, Appalachian State 0

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Senior Natalie Braun recorded 11 kills and 16 assists for her 15th double-double of the season and the Furman volleyball team extended its winning streak to five matches with a 3-0 (25-85, 25-16, 25-20) win over Appalachian State Saturday at Alley Gymnasium in Greenville, S.C.

The Paladins jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the opening set to quickly gain control of the match.  Furman stretched the advantage to seven at 14-7 and held on for a 25-18 victory.

Set two proved to be much closer at the beginning, as the teams battled through seven ties to settle at 10-all before the Paladins went on an 8-2 run to break open the set, 18-12.  Appalachian State cut the advantage to four at 19-15, but Furman clinched six out of the last seven points for a 25-16 set win.

Following a 3-3 tie in the third set, Furman scored four-straight points, including an ace from Braun, to lead 7-3.  The Mountaineers came within one of the Paladins at 11-10, before Furman reeled off three-straight winners to regain the momentum.  The Paladins were up by four at 19-15 before Appalachian State scored three-straight to again cut the lead to one, but Furman claimed six out of eight of the match's final points for a 25-20 set victory.              

Junior Elle Ross posted 13 digs in the win, and freshman Jo Wilks added 30 assists.  Senior Caroline Adams led the Paladins with a .375 attack percentage, while collecting eight kills and a team-high six blocks.  Junior Amanda Komisarow added nine digs, and fellow junior Christina Dorismond contributed seven kills.

Dalton Tolliver led Appalachian State (5-17, 1-7 SoCon) with 16 kills, while Courtney Rhein collected 16 digs.  Lauren Brown had a team-high 16 assists for the Mountaineers.

Wofford 3, Western Carolina 1

The Western Carolina volleyball team fell to the Wofford Terriers, 1-3, Saturday evening in a match in which the Catamounts won the first set in the match. The Terriers overcame the 1-0 deficit to win the match at home.

Western Carolina came out and got an early win in the first set of the match, winning 25-20. WCU had a comfortable 23-14 lead before Wofford rattled off a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to four, 23-19. The Catamounts shut the door on the set with a Piechota kill off the Tina Nazario set before a Wofford service error ended set one.

In set two, the Terriers picked up from the momentum it gained towards the end of the first, jumping out to a 6-2 lead. WCU came back in the set to tie the match at 12, but a 7-0 run by Wofford quickly put the Terriers in a comfortable situation, leading 19-12. The Catamounts chipped away to get as close as 18-22, but Wofford would again keep the Catamounts from siding out with another long run, regaining the lead and tying the set with seven straight points, winning 25-18.

Wofford came out of the break and continued where it left off from, taking sets three and four by scores of 25-18 and 25-19.

With the win, Wofford improves to 12-8, 3-5 SoCon while Western Carolina falls to 7-16, 3-5 SoCon.

Sophomore Caitlin Piehota picked up her team-leading eighth double-double, finishing with 13 kills and 12 digs. Setter Tina Nazario had one of her best all-around matches of the season, finishing with 35 assists, eight digs and matched her career-high in blocks with four.

Wofford's offensive attack was led by Rachel Woodlee, Amanda Liguori and Wendy Burnett who finished with 14, 14 and 13 kills. Wofford hit at a .250 hitting percentage.

College of Charleston 3, Chattanooga 0

CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston continued its momentum from Friday night by sweeping Chattanooga (25-17, 25-15, 25-19) in SoCon volleyball action on Saturday evening at TD Arena.

The Cougars (15-6, 7-1) earned their seventh sweep in conference play, while Chattanooga (8-14, 2-5) lost its fifth SoCon match. Once again, the Cougars took advantage of a major gulf in hitting percentage with CofC hitting .333 and Chattanooga managing just .097.

Darcy Dorton had an impressive showing by setting a new personal high for digs in a three-set match with 16. She added 14 kills and two service aces to pick up her 10th double-double of the season.

Emily Neideffer and Kerstin Koehler each made eight kills with Koehler posting an attack percentage of .500 and tallying three blocks. Melissa Morello made seven kills and Sloane White notched six. Emily Shelton made 15 digs as the Cougars outdug the Mocs 59-53. Taeler Davis picked up 32 assists and two kills.

The Mocs' Paula Passmore, the SoCon's leader in digs, made 18 digs while Melissa Green and Briana Reid each notched 11. No Chattanooga player made double digits in kills, with Christina Teter's nine kills paced the Mocs.

College of Charleston didn't need too many long rallies in the first set as the Cougars sided out at a clip of 83 percent. Dorton made nine digs and six kills in the first frame. A kill by Morello put the Cougars up 17-11 and the two teams traded points for the rest of the set. White gave CofC set point at 24-17 and a Teter attack error gave CofC a 25-17 set win.

The Cougars had a big run in the second set, breaking a 10-10 tie with a 10-1 run to go up 20-11. A Teter kill broke the run, but the Cougars sided out again with a White kill. Davis put the Cougars at set point with a dump kill and Lizzie Theesfeld aced out the set, 25-15.

Chattanooga hung around closer in the third set, thanks to four blocks and 12 kills. The Mocs pulled the margin to 18-16, but kills from White and Dorton forced a Chattanooga timeout at 20-16. Catey Warren and Kelly Kolich tallied kills in the final points to give Charleston a 25-19 set victory and a match sweep.

Samford 3, The Citadel 0

CHARLESTON, S.C. After a tough loss yesterday, Samford rebounded well Saturday night with a 3-0 sweep at The Citadel.  The win is Samford's fifth conference sweep of the season, their 12th overall.

Samford (15-7, 7-1 SoCon) had two players earn double-digit kills, led by Lauren Hutchinson with 13 while Michaela Reesor earned 11.  Katie Murphy hit .400 behind seven kills on 15 swings with only one error and also added two solo blocks and one assisted.  In addition to her 11 kills, Reesor was one of three in double-digit digs, earning 11 for fifth double-double of the season.  Alexis Bauer led the defense with 18 digs, putting her within 11 of cracking the Samford single-season top ten for the fourth straight season.

The Citadel (4-19, 0-7 SoCon) was limited to a .029 hitting percentage with none of their attackers hitting above .200.  Amanda Rudnick led the Bulldogs in kills with six while Erin Bucherl led the defense with 13 digs.

Neither team could build more than a one-point lead in the opening set until, trailing 7-6, Samford rattled off five in a row to take a four-point lead, up 11-7 as The Citadel took a timeout.  Samford kept rolling out of the break, adding another four unanswered points to move ahead 15-7.  The Citadel narrowed the gap with a 7-2 run bringing them within three, down 17-14.  Samford extended its lead back to six points, leading 21-15 as The Citadel took another timeout.  Samford reached set point, serving up 24-16, and The Citadel briefly staved off the end of the set but Samford ultimately won, 25-17.

The Samford offense came out firing to begin set two, building a 6-1 lead.  A four-point run brought The Citadel within one, down 6-5, but Samford slowly began to extend the lead, moving up 15-10 as The Citadel took a timeout.  Later, up 17-12, a Citadel attack error and kills by Chelsi Carter and Murphy widened the gap to eight points as The Citadel took yet another timeout.  Up by eight later, 21-13, back-to-back kills by Murphy and two errors by the home team closed out the set in Samford's favor as they won 25-13 to move up 2-0 in the match.

Samford held the early edge in the third frame, hitting the 10-point mark with a six-point lead, up 10-4.  Samford slowly extended the lead until, up 15-7, The Citadel scored four unanswered points to draw within four, down 15-11.  Samford pulled away, moving up 19-12, but The Citadel fought right back within four again, trailing 19-15.  The home team would only score two more points for the rest of the set however, as Samford closed with a 6-2 run to win the set, 25-17, and complete the 3-0 sweep.<-->