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CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston Cougars brought the 2011 College of Charleston Invitational to an exciting conclusion taking eventual tournament champion Clemson to a fifth set, the third of the weekend, before falling to the Tigers on the final two points.
College of Charleston (3-6, 0-0) and Clemson (7-3, 0-0) took turns dominating three of the first four sets, as the Cougars took set one (25-15) and Clemson took sets two and four (25-12, 25-15). Charleston won set three in a tight 25-20 decision, while the Tigers took the final game 15-13.
Junior Kelly Kolich excited the rowdy Cougar faithful with a big kill in the final set that gave College of Charleston an 11-9 advantage. However, a kill and block assist from Clemson's Sandra Adeleye knotted the score at 11 again. A kill from sophomore Madelyn McGinnis and one from senior Elyse Chubb bracketed a Cougar error, and CofC led 13-12. Clemson rallied to take the next three points and win the final game, 15-13.
The Tigers finished the weekend with a perfect 3-0 record to win the tournament championship. The Tigers' Alexa Rand was named tournament MVP, while Hannah Brenner and Sandra Adeleye made the All-Tournament team. South Carolina's Paige Wheeler and Juliette Thevenin, Winthrop's Becca Toor and College of Charleston's Sloane White also made the All-Tournament team.
College of Charleston went 0-3 on the weekend, yet took every match to a fifth game, creating many tense moments for the home crowds.
"It was an emotional rollercoaster," head coach Jason Kepner said. "You are up and down for the entire weekend, and the team battled as hard as they possibly could to put themselves in a position to be successful. We just have to learn how to finish. We have to take these three losses and look at them as an opportunity to have been 3-0 if we would have changed a few small details. That's the difference."
Kolich's big kill in the final set capped a career day for the junior from Overland Park, Kan. Kolich finished with a career-high 15 kills to go with 12 digs. Senior Sarah Havel led the Cougars in attacking percentage, landing 13 kills on 30 attempts for a .367 mark. Chubb also reached double digits with 10 kills.
All-Tournament selection White finished her weekend with 30 kills and a team-best five aces, including three against Clemson.
Rand finished with 18 kills in the final match for Clemson, posting an attack percentage of .607. Adeleye finished with 12 kills while Serenat Yaz picked up 13. Hannah Brenner recorded a double-double with 40 assists and 12 digs.
College of Charleston built a lead of 10-4 early in the first set and never looked back, going up 18-10 before winning 25-15. Havel posted her best stats of the match, hitting 6-of-8 from the net.
Clemson turned the tables on Charleston in the second set, building a similar 14-4 lead before winning 25-12. The Tiger defense recorded four blocks and allowed just seven Cougar kills in 31 attempts.
The third set proved to be a tight battle as neither team could establish big leads. College of Charleston finally opened a slight lead after a Chubb kill preceded five Tiger errors to give Charleston a 21-17 lead. Kolich finished with six kills in the set as CofC won, 25-20.
Clemson responded strongly in the fourth period, running from a 7-7 tie to a 20-10 lead. Rand nailed six kills on eight attempts and added a block solo. The Tigers won 25-15 to force the fifth and final set.
After traveling to Presbyterian for a match on Tuesday, Sept. 13, College of Charleston will come back home next weekend as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Wyoming, North Florida and UNC-Wilmington travel to TD Arena for a two-day tournament on Sept. 16-17.
