Charleston Volleyball Posts Sixth Shutout, Wins 3-0

Sunday, September 23

John Kresse Arena

2 p.m.

College of Charleston

Elon

Charleston Volleyball Posts Sixth Shutout, Wins 3-0

9/23/2007 4:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: CofCSports.com

Anne Uthe had 11 kills while teammate Megan Parkerson added a game-high 15 digs leading the College of Charleston to a 3-0 win over Elon in Southern Conference volleyball action at John Kresse Arena on Sunday.

With the win, Charleston improved to 8-5 over and 3-0 in the SoCon, while Elon fell to 8-5 and 2-1.

“It was a great way to end a good week of volleyball,” Head Coach Jason Kepner said. “The team played very well today. We had a balanced offense and really blocked aggressively. It's nice to start 3-0 in the conference. We have a full week of practice before we go on the road next weekend.”

Charleston opened game one with a service ace by senior Megan Parkerson which began the Cougars 5-1 run. With the Cougars leading 26-12, Elon was forced to take a timeout. Charleston went on to win game one 30-17.

In game two, Charleston opened with another impressive run, scoring seven unanswered points, which caused Elon to take another timeout. The Cougars opened their lead to 19-7, but Elon narrowed the lead to 22-17. After a Cougar timeout, the team regrouped, went on an 8-3 run and took game two 20-30.

The final game of the match saw Charleston jump out to another early lead. Trying a new offensive stategy Elon played sophomore Emily Regan in place of senior Natlie Moore at setter. In addition Elon's top returning hitter, Britany Westphal did not play in the third game until the 20-13 mark. The change kept the score closer than the two previous games as the Cougars largest lead was held to eight points.

Leading the Cougars offensively was senior Annie Uthe who had 11 kills and team high .647 attack percentage. Tiffany Blum and Emily Sawin tallied 10 kills a piece. Whitney Russell, Deanna Patrick, and Cole Dawley added six kills each. The Cougar defense was led by Blum who tallied seven block assists.

For Elon, the offense was led by Emily Lucci with nine kills. Britany Westphal (7), Jessica Barrow (6), Lauren Copenhagen (5) and Mandy Wilson (5), and Sarah Schermerhorn (4) all added kills in the effort. Defensively for the Phoenix, Kelley Blakewood had 14 digs and Lucci had five block assists and seven digs.

Charleston returns to action next weekend when they travel to North Carolina to take on Davidson Friday at 7 p.m. and Appalachian State Saturday at 2 p.m.