College of Charleston
Samford
Cougars Win SoCon Tournament Opener
11/19/2010 8:12:00 PM | Volleyball
BOONE, N.C. - The College of Charleston volleyball team opened play in the 2010 Southern Conference Tournament with a 3-1 victory over the Samford Bulldogs Friday at the Holmes Convocation Center. (25-22, 25-19, 30-32, 25-18).
Senior Cole Dawley recorded 51 assists and junior Elyse Chubb and senior Ginny Phillips each added 14 kills for the match. Senior Paige Johnson came within three of her career-high for digs with a game-high 27.
"It was a great match," said CofC Head Coach Jason Kepner, who is now one win shy of 100 as head coach of the Cougars. "I'm very proud of our team. I knew Samford was going to come out strong. We hit for a high percentage and had a lot of digs and blocks. Overall I'm very happy with the win."
The Cougars (28-5) will face UNCG tomorrow at 2p.m. in the first of two semi-final matches. UNCG picked up a 3-2 victory over Furman in the first match of the tournament.
In the first set it was the attack Chubb with six kills that got the Cougars going. Senior Dawley guided CofC on offense with 13 assists and four kills and Johnson contributed defensively with 11 digs to give the Cougars a 25-22 first set victory.
The second set had eight ties and four lead changes, but the Cougars continued their steady play, hitting .265 and holding the Bulldogs to a .150 hitting efficiency. CofC forced seven Samford errors and won the set 25-19.
The third set featured 20 ties and seven lead changes as the Cougars tried to close out the match, but the Bulldogs wouldn't go down without a fight and kept the match alive with a 32-30 win.
The Cougars and Bulldogs battled it out in the fourth set, with neither side gaining much ground in the early going. With the score tied at 11-11, Phillips connected on a powerful swing for a kill to get the Cougars moving in the right direction. Chubb followed with a kill of her own and CofC opened up a four point advantage at 18-14.
The Bulldogs closed to within one point at 19-18, but that would be the closest they got, as the Cougars used a 6-0 run with offensive firepower and a defense that forced three straight Samford attack errors to finish the set and give the Cougars a 3-1 match victory.
Players Mentioned
