UNCG 3, Western Carolina 1

CULLOWHEE, N.C. -After sweeping UNCG (14-14, 6-6 SoCon) earlier this month, Western Carolina volleyball (11-17, 6-6 SoCon) fell to the UNCG Spartans Sunday afternoon at the Ramsey Center 1-3 (20-25, 28-30, 25-18, 17-25) in a SoCon North Division battle.

Senior setter Brittany Lysik posted a career-high 47 assists in the match. Freshmen Caitlin Piechota and Jordan Timmermann continued their successful weekend posted double-doubles for the third consecutive match. Piechota finished with 17 kills and 11 digs while Timmermann tallied 10 kills and 14 digs.

UNCG received solid offensive play from Karrian Chambers and Ariel Newman who both finished with 16 kills apiece. Morgan Freeman also added 11 kills for the Spartans. UNCG outhit the Catamounts .207 to .160 in the match. Kellie Orewiler posted a match-high 36 digs for the Spartans.

The first set was an early indicator of how the night would go as both teams stayed close throughout. WCU would lead by as many as four (16-12) before UNCG would get back into the set. With the set all even at 19, UNCG’s Vicky Harley picked up a kill that would begin a 3-0 run that would eventually give UNCG separation in the set. The Spartans took the set 25-20.

UNCG did not waste any time in the second set, jumping out to a 6-0 lead. From there, the Catamounts would get on the board due to a Spartan setting error. WCU would continue to chip at the Spartan lead. A 5-0 run behind Piechota’s serve would bring the Purple and Gold within three, at 12-15. WCU would tie the match off of a service error by the Spartans. From there, the teams would trade points until WCU would reach set point at 26-25. UNCG kept fighting and regained the lead at 28-27. The Spartans would take the set off of a Catamount attack error, winning the extended set 30-28 going into the intermission.

Western Carolina continued to battle in the third set and led for the rest of the set after taking a 5-4 lead from a Carrie Minogue service ace. Minogue finished the third set with a service ace, giving WCU its first set point with a 25-18 win.

In the fourth and final set, the set stayed close until UNCG took a 14-10 lead. Two 4-0 runs by the Spartans would allow UNCG to take a lead that would be too much for WCU to overcome. The Catamounts mustered a 4-0 run of their own with the Spartans holding match point, but the Spartans would take the set 25-17 off of a WCU setting error.

Five different Catamounts reached double figures in digs with Morgan Cochran leading the way with 21 digs. The sophomore is averaging 4.90 digs per set in the month of October. Brittany Lysik (19), Jordan Timmermann (14), Paige McConlogue (17) and Caitlin Piechota (11) also reached double figures.

Carrie Minogue picked up two blocks on the day, adding to her career total blocks to 287. The senior has moved into fifth overall in the career WCU records for total blocks.

 Appalachian State 3, Elon 0

BOONE, N.C.– Appalachian State volleyball pushed its home winning streak to nine matches with a 3-0 sweep of SoCon North foe Elon on Sunday, Oct. 30 at the Holmes Center.

The Mountaineers (18-8, 10-2) stayed tied with Samford atop the SoCon North by picking up a win over the Phoenix (16-12, 4-8), who came into the weekend as the only team in the North Division with a win over the Apps.

Appalachian set the tone early with a dominant effort in a 25-12 first-set victory. The Mountaineers never trailed in the first set and strung together two 5-0 runs to build an 18-6 lead in the set win. Maggie Seeds and Anna Wagner ended the set with back-to-back kills.

Elon proved to be much tougher in the second set as it jumped out to a 4-1 lead before ASU reeled off a 4-0 run to take a 5-4 lead. The Phoenix were able to take an 18-17 lead late in the set, but Appalachian battled back to take a 25-21 set win.

The Mountaineers stormed out to a quick 4-0 lead in the third and final set, but Elon was able to hang around and took a 12-7 lead before a 7-1 run by ASU forced a Phoenix timeout midway through the set.

The Phoenix would eventually pull within one point (16-15) but Appalachian pulled away and picked up a 25-18, match-clinching win on back-to-back services aces from Seeds.

As a team Appalachian State hit .198 and held Elon to a just a .020 attack percentage. The Phoenix committed 20 errors to Appalachian’s 18 and the Apps finished with a 9-6 edge in blocks.

Seeds led all players with 12 kills and five block assists while Kasey Sauls had a match-high 26 assists. Courtney Rhein finished with 20 digs while sister Kelly Rhein had a match-high four service aces.

Alison Blasingame had five block assists and seven kills. Wagner also tallied seven kills and Jessica Eley had four block assists.

Davidson 3, The Citadel 0

DAVIDSON, N.C. -Christine Perzinski and Caroline Brown each tallied 10 kills, and Megan Chamberlin served six aces to lead Davidson to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-15) Southern Conference volleyball victory over The Citadel Sunday afternoon in Belk Arena.

Davidson improves to 14-11 overall and 4-8 in the SoCon, while the Bulldogs drop to 7-19 and 0-12 in league play.

Perzinski added four digs and was in on three blocks, and Brown recorded nine digs. Tindall Sewell tallied eight kills to go along with six block assists as the Wildcats tallied nine blocks as a team. Ariel Ley posted a match-high 41 assists, and Molly Crenshaw was credited with a match-high 17
digs.

The Cats hit .402 as a team and had just nine hitting errors in the match.

Rachael Farrell posted seven kills and 11 digs to lead The Citadel, and Amanda Rudnik added seven kills.

Trailing the first set 14-10, the OCats used a 13-1 run to open a 23-15 advantage. Chamberlin had four service aces during the stretch, including three in a row at one point.

With the second set tied 10-10, Davidson scored three straight points, with two coming on kills by Brown and Erin Lupfer, en route to opening a 20-15 cushion.

The Wildcats never trailed in the third set and opened an early 7-4 lead. Leading 13-9, Lupfer¹s kill started a five-point run for Davidson, capped by a Chamberlin service ace that made the margin 18-9. Brown recorded two kills the rest of the way, and senior Madison Benedict ended the match with a
kill.

Seniors Lupfer and Perzinski joined Benedict in being honored before the match on Senior Day.