STATESBORO, Ga. - College of Charleston won its first five-set match of the SoCon season, outlasting South Division rival Georgia Southern, 3-2 (25-20, 20-25, 26-24, 16-25, 15-12).

The Cougars improved to 18-9 and 9-2 in conference play, while Georgia Southern fell to 14-13 and 6-5 in the SoCon.

Four players reached double figures in kills for the Cougars as senior Elyse Chubb and freshman Sloane White led the team with 14 kills apiece. Senior Sarah Havel landed 12 kills, while freshman Lizzie Theesfeld registered her sixth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 10 digs. Redshirt-junior Emily Shelton led the team with 20 digs while Andi Zbojniewicz (14), Hayley Harrell (12), Taeler Davis (10) and Sloane White (10) all reached double figures in digs.

The Eagles leaned on Bethany Sanford as she made a match-high 18 kills, while Enjoli Johnson had 15 kills and a team-best .462 attacking percentage.

Although the Cougars only hit .244, they took advantage of 18 Georgia Southern service errors, including two to start the crucial fifth set.

College of Charleston led throughout the first set thanks to a number of unforced errors on the part of Georgia Southern. The Eagles committed 14 errors in the first set, including five service errors and only hit .133. College of Charleston struggled to find rhythm offensively early on and could not use GSU's errors to build a significant lead. A momentum-building block from Havel gave the Cougars a 19-15 lead and College of Charleston won the set, 25-20. Theesfeld and White both tallied three kills for the Cougars.

Georgia Southern jumped out to a quick start in the second set, building a 7-2 lead and eventually going up 16-10. However, College of Charleston rallied back by scoring six straight points to tie the game at 17. Sophomore Kallie McKown landed two service aces in the run while junior Kelly Kolich and Havel each had two kills. After several points traded, a Georgia Southern service error brought the Cougars to 20-19 but that was as close as they got for the rest of the match. Sanford made kills for all of the last five Eagle points and GSU won, 25-20.

Both teams struggled through the beginning of the third set with Georgia Southern making numerous service errors and the Cougars having a hard time passing. Neither team could pull away until the Eagles went on a three-point run to go up 19-16. College of Charleston rallied right back to take a 20-19 lead on consecutive kills from Theesfeld. After a dump attack from Davis tied the game at 23, Sanford retaliated for Georgia Southern to force set point. Sophomore Madelyn McGinnis entered the game for the Cougars after missing several weeks to injury and made a kill to tie the game at 24. A kill and block from Havel gave the Cougars a 26-24 set victory.

The Eagles jumped out to a significant lead in the fourth set, going up 15-10 and extending the lead to 19-11. College of Charleston cut it to 19-14, but the Eagles ran to a set victory on the next few points, winning 25-16. The Eagles hit .438 in the game while College of Charleston managed .267 with Chubb leading the way with four kills.

College of Charleston took an 8-7 lead into the break of the fifth set after a powerful swing from Chubb. A kill from White and Havel gave the Cougars a 13-10 lead and Theesfeld ended the final set with two kills in the last three points, helping College of Charleston win, 15-12.

Samford 3, Chattanooga 1

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Samford earned its 22nd win of the season Friday, marking only the second time in program history the team has hit the 22-win mark.  The Bulldogs downed the Chattanooga Mocs in four sets (25-12, 19-25, 25-16, 25-15), adding another point in Samford's favor for this season's Southern Rail Rivalry between the two schools.

Samford (22-3, 9-2 SoCon) out-hit Chattanooga (5-22, 3-9 SoCon) .352-.145, with Katie Murphy leading the attack at .550 (12-1-20).  Michaela Reesor earned a personal-best 16 kills, adding seven digs and four assisted blocks to a well-rounded performance.  Casey Garvey broke the 1,000 assist-mark with today's 47, bringing her season total to 1,017.  Her total this season has well surpassed her two-year career total of 958 leading into this season.  Chelsi Carter was today's leader in digs with 17 and Taylor Chao earned a career-best three service aces.

The Bulldogs started strong right out of the gate, earning a convincing 25-12 first set win.  Tied at 6-6, Murphy knocked in her first kill of the set, giving Samford possession and allowing Reesor to serve three in a row, capped by a service ace to put Samford up 10-6 and force a Chattanooga timeout.  The momentum stayed in the Bulldogs' favor, as they went on a 7-2 run during the next stretch.  Murphy again set up a three-serve rally with a kill, giving Bauer three in a row to pull ahead 17-8 and force another timeout by the Mocs.  Samford extended their lead even further, going up 20-12 to give Chao a chance to seal the match with a 5-0 service rally, including three blocks by Murphy, a kill by Reesor and a service ace to finish the 13-point set one victory.

Samford had a slow start in the second set and struggled to regain momentum, eventually falling 19-25.  The offense that hit .467 in the first set only hit .133 in the second.  The Mocs jumped ahead to an early 8-4 lead followed by an even exchange of eight points each before Chattanooga earned a service to go up 17-12 and force a Samford timeout.  The Bulldogs narrowed the deficit coming out of the timeout, knocking in three in a row to draw within two and force another quick Chattanooga timeout.  A 4-2 Mocs run forced another Bulldog timeout, yet Samford was unable to find their footing coming out of the break, as the Mocs evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-19 victory.

Samford was not fazed by their down performance in set two, rebounding for a 25-16 win in set three.  Hutchinson rejoined the lineup after sitting in set two and the offense started clicking, hitting .440 behind 12 kills and only one error.  Samford came out firing, jumping ahead 6-1 capped by a four-serve rally by Garvey to force an early frustration timeout by Chattanooga.  The Mocs narrowed the gap, drawing within three, down 6-9, but Samford followed with an 8-4 run to jump to a seven-point lead and force another Chattanooga timeout.  Another 8-4 rally closed out set three for the Bulldogs as they capitalized on numerous Chattanooga attack errors in the closing stretch.

Chattanooga failed to force a fifth set, as Samford cruised to a 25-15 win in set four.  Tied at 3-3, Samford knocked in four in a row, holding the four-point lead until the first break up 12-8.  Samford went on a 7-4 run during the next stretch, including two kills each by Neisler and Reesor, forcing another timeout by the Mocs.  Chao served once heading into the timeout and followed the break with five successful serves in a row to give the Bulldogs set point, up 24-13.  The Mocs earned two in a row after that, but Carter kill sealed the 3-1 match victory.

Appalachian State 3, UNCG 1

BOONE, N.C.- Kasey Sauls picked up the 3,000th dig of her career as Appalachian State volleyball defeated SoCon North Division foe UNCG on Friday, Oct. 28 at the Holmes Center.

The Mountaineers (17-8, 9-2) remained on top of the SoCon North with a 3-1 win over the Spartans (13-14, 5-6) and picked up their seventh-straight home win.

Both teams battled through a hard-fought first set that featured 12 ties and two lead changes. Appalachian took an early 7-5 lead before UNCG rallied with a 6-3 run to jump in front, 11-10.

The Spartans led by as many was four points (17-13) before the Apps fought back to tie the match at 21-21, but UNCG scored four of the final six points for a 25-23 set win.

The Mountaineers stormed back in this second set to take a 25-15 victory. After trailing 4-2 early in the second set, ASU strung together a 5-0 run to take a 7-4 lead it would not relinquish.

Appalachian led by as many as six points twice in the late stages before ending the set on a 4-1 run to pick up the second set victory.

The Apps dominated the final two sets of the match, leading by as many as 13 in the third set and nine in the fourth set to pick up 25-14 and 25-15 wins, respectively.

Maggie Seeds led all players with 14 kills while Kelly Rhein had a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs.

Sauls had match-high 32 assists to push her career total to 3,021, sixth in ASU history. Courtney Rhein led the Mountaineers with 16 digs and Anna Wagner had eight kills.

Seeds also finished the night with four block assists to boost her career total to 245, good for seventh all-time in the Appalachian record book.

As a team, the Apps hit .338 while holding UNCG to just a .092 attack percentage. The Spartans committed 30 attack errors to Appalachian's 14 and had just six blocks to the Mountaineers' 15.