CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston Cougars stayed unbeaten in SoCon play by knocking off the reigning conference tournament champion Georgia Southern Eagles, 3-1, on Saturday afternoon at TD Arena.
College of Charleston (12-7, 3-0) rallied from a 16-8 deficit in the fourth set to come back and win 26-24. The Eagles (10-9, 3-1) won set one, 27-25, while College of Charleston took sets two and three, 25-15 and 25-21.
Freshman Sloane White continued to be the driving force of the Cougars offense, besting her career high, which she set on Tuesday at Coastal Carolina, with 18 kills and a .375 attack percentage. Classmate Lizzie Theesfeld recorded her first career double-double, landing 13 kills and making a team-best 16 digs. Senior Elyse Chubb hit 14 kills while Sarah Havel reached double figures with 10 kills to go with a team-best three total blocks.
As a team, the Cougars hit .307 for the match, the third-best hitting percentage for any match this season.
"We put together a very good effort against a really talented Georgia Southern squad," head coach Jason Kepner said. "We had good production from every single spot on the court, and we showed a lot of fight to rally and win in the fourth set. It's always important to get home wins in conference play."
Georgia Southern was led by the 14 kills of Meredith Paskert. Bethany Sanford tallied 11 kills, but hit only .047 as she made nine errors.
College of Charleston jumped out to a 9-2 lead to start the first set and led 19-13 behind kills from Theesfeld and White. However, the Eagles put forth a furious rally to tie the set at 21 after a Sanford service ace. Georgia Southern staved off a Cougar set point to tie the game at 24 and eventually won 27-25.
The Cougars once again came out strong in the second set, leading 13-9 before winning five of the next six points to lead 18-10. The Cougars took advantage of Eagle attack errors late to win the set, 25-15. Chubb made five kills on seven attempts in the set for an attacking mark of .714. Sophomore Taeler Davis started the set and made seven assists and four digs. Davis upped her season-best mark again with 31 assists on the match.
Both teams clawed back and forth all the way through the third set before Charleston opened up a 21-16 lead, forcing a Georgia Southern timeout. The Eagles made five of the next seven points to pull to 23-21, but CofC ended the set with a kill from White and a bad set from GSU's Kate Van Dyke.
Georgia Southern seemed to determine to take the match to five sets by racing to a 16-8 lead in the fourth game. However, the Cougars were able to pick up small runs and made a big push after going down 22-16. A service error from Van Dyke followed by a Sanford attack error prompted a GSU timeout. Theesfeld made a kill and long hit from Hannah Nelson forced the Eagles to burn their last timeout, only leading 22-20. CofC scored three of the next four points to tie the set at 23. Theesfeld gave the Cougars set point, but a service error tied it at 24. However, Chubb stepped up in the final moments and made a dramatic kill and block to end the set, 26-24, and give College of Charleston the match victory.
The Cougars will have a quick turnaround as they play Davidson on Sunday, Oct. 2, at 2 p.m. in TD Arena. The Wildcats knocked off The Citadel on Saturday afternoon, 3-0.
