The College of Charleston volleyball team suffered just its second Southern Conference loss of the season, this one to Appalachian State 3-1 (29-31, 30-20, 30-28, 30-27).  Brittany Zahn and Carla Dunham led the Mountaineers offense to a .282 hitting percentage, while Tiffany Blum led the Cougars with 17 kills for a .389 hitting percentage and 19.5 points.

With the loss, Charleston falls to 11-2 in the SoCon and 17-7 overall.  Appalachian State improves to a 10-3 conference record a 14-12 overall.

Charleston came from behind to take game one 31-29.  Appalachian State opened the game with a 5-0 run to force Charleston to take an early timeout.   Charleston brought the game within one at 11-12 before the Mountaineers scored three in a row.  An Appalachian State service error narrowed the score to 18-21.  Charleston scored three of the next four points to reduce the lead, causing Appalachian State to take its first timeout.  Charleston tied the game at 24 off an attack error by Appalachian State's Brittany Zahn, then a kill by Whitney Russell gave Charleston the lead for the first time.  The Cougar lead increased to 26-24 after a Mountaineer attack error.  After a 6-0 run by the Cougars, Appalachian State took its second timeout.  Charleston scored two consecutive points before Appalachian State tied the game at 29 off a kill by Lauren Swecker.  A Zahn service error gave Charleston its next point, followed by a game point kill by Deanna Patrick.

Appalachian State won the second game 30-20.  The teams exchanged points on the first two possessions before the Mountaineers scored four consecutive points to create a 5-1 lead.  Consecutive kills by Patrick narrowed Appalachian State's to two at 8-6.  With the game tied at 12, ASU put together a 4-0 run, which forced a Charleston timeout.  Following the timeout, Charleston took five of the next six points to tie the game at 17.  A 5-0 run gave ASU a 22-17 lead and caused CofC to take its second timeout.  The Mountaineers won the game, scoring nine of the final 11 points.

Game three saw the score tie 12 times before Appalachian State won the game 30-28.  A block by Tiffany Blum and Lindsey Kane narrowed the Mountaineer lead to one at 4-3.  Consecutive kills by Blum brought the score to 11-12.  A service ace by Kane gave Charleston its first lead of the game.  The teams tied three times before Appalachian State took a timeout at the 20-19 mark.  Eight plays and three ties later, Charleston took its first timeout of the game.  Charleston called their second timeout after the Mountaineers scored consecutive points that brought the game to a 28-28 tie.  Appalachian State took the final two points of the game to win.

The final game of the match saw three players with a hitting percentage over .500 in Charleston's Blum (.714) and Appalachian State's Lorelle Rau (.600) and Dianna Thomas (.538).  Charleston scored its first opening point of the match.  The Cougars led the game before an Appalachian kill by Thomas tied the game at nine.  The 9-9 tie would be the first of 10 ties in the game.  Charleston regained the lead, scoring five of the next eight points and forced a Mountaineer timeout.  Appalachian State scored four consecutive points to tie the game at 17, causing Charleston to take its first timeout.  The next nine possessions saw five lead changes before Appalachian State took a 23-21 lead off a Zahn kill.  Charleston would retake the lead, 25-24, before the Mountaineers scored five of the final eight points to take the game and the match.

Annie Uthe (10) and Patrick (13) enjoyed double-digit kill performances in addition to Blum's 17.  Paced by Kane with 52 assists, the Cougars had four players combine for 19 kills in the effort.  Kane led the team in blocks with six, with Blum tallying five and Uthe with four.  Megan Parkerson earned 17 digs on the afternoon.

For the Mountaineers, Zahn and Durham led the team with 20 and 22 kills.  Thomas finished the game with 19 kills, while three additional Mountaineers combined for 20 kills.  Defensively, Becca Norris, Durham, and Thomas recorded eight blocks each.  Zahn notched a match-high 23 digs in the win.

Charleston returns to the court Sunday, Oct. 28, at 2 p.m. for Senior Day when it hosts Davidson.  Appalachian State hosts Elon Nov. 2 at 7 p.m.