CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston captured a 3-1 match decision over Western Carolina in home volleyball action on Saturday night.
College of Charleston (17-9, 8-2) split the first two sets with Western Carolina (10-16, 5-5), 25-18 and 22-25, before the Cougars won the final two, each by a score of 25-22.
The match featured a large number of long rallies as each team battled for every point. College of Charleston finished with 104 total digs, the most in any one match in head coach Jason Kepner's tenure with the Cougars.
"I thought both teams just battled and fought the entire way," Kepner said. "We really had to grind out a lot of long rallies and that speaks to our toughness. You have to credit Western Carolina for playing so hard."
The Cougars set a number of team and personal records as senior Elyse Chubb led the way offensively with a season-high 17 kills, while hitting .342. Freshman Lizzie Theesfeld set a new career high with 15 kills on 50 attempts to go with 11 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Classmate Sloane White made 14 kills and tallied a new career high with 13 digs. Sophomore Taeler Davis registered her fourth double-double by tallying a career-best 55 assists and 11 digs. Finally, redshirt-junior Emily Shelton tied her career high by making 32 digs.
Four players for Western Carolina hit double-digits in kills as Jordan Timmerman, Caitlin Piechota and Abbey Scroggins all made 11 kills. Morgan Cochran made 19 digs and Timmerman added 18.
The Cougars broke open a 6-6 game in the first set with eight straight points, including three kills from Chubb. However, the Catamounts mounted a rally of their own, scoring six of the next seven points after being down 17-10, to make it 18-16. A kill from White ended the run and a block from Theesfeld and Chubb got the Cougars to 20 first. Charleston was able to hold on and win the first set, 25-18.
Western Carolina led the entire second set after a 1-1 tie as the Catamounts took advantage of 14 total Cougar errors. College of Charleston hit just .174, while Scroggins led the way for WCU with five kills. The Cougars mounted a furious rally after going down 18-10 to cut the lead to 21-19, but Western pulled out the set victory 25-22.
College of Charleston held a three- or four-point advantage throughout most of the third set, siding out on critical points late in the set before consecutive kills from WCU's Timmerman tied the game at 22. After a Cougars timeout, Chubb went to work making two kills and a block to quickly squelch the Catamount momentum and win the set for CofC, 25-22.
The Cougars took control of the fourth set midway through as a 4-1 run gave College of Charleston an 18-14 lead. Kills from White and Theesfeld got the Cougars to 21-16 and CofC eventually won, 25-22. Theesfeld made six kills in the final set while Shelton tallied 10 digs.
College of Charleston goes back out on the road next weekend with matches at South Division rivals, Georgia Southern and Davidson. The Cougars face the Eagles on Friday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m., and the Wildcats on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m.
