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CHARLESTON, S.C. - After going up two games to none, the College of Charleston needed five sets to ultimately knock off UNC-Wilmington (25-19, 25-17, 21-25, 20-25, 15-12) in Friday night volleyball action at the Hampton Inn Invitational at TD Arena.
Sophomore Madelyn McGinnis capped her record-breaking day by smashing another 26 kills, four more than her career-best performance earlier in the afternoon. McGinnis set a new team season high with 55 attack attempts, hitting .236 for the match. McGinnis' final kill broke a 12-12 tie in the fifth set that put the College of Charleston up for good.
Sophomore Kallie McKown bested her career high by finishing with 60 assists, along with 14 digs. Redshirt-junior Emily Shelton tied a season high with 29 digs. Seniors Sarah Havel and Elyse Chubb both tallied 11 kills while Lizzie Theesfeld registered 10 kills. Freshman Andi Zbojniewicz had nine digs.
UNC-Wilmington was led by Leah Gagliardi and Christi Laite. Gagliardi finished with 20 kills on 40 swings with just two errors, while Laite landed 15 kills and posted seven total blocks.
"I was certainly happy that we pulled out a tight five-set match here at home after losing three of them last weekend," said head coach Jason Kepner. "Obviously, we want to keep working on putting teams away after going up early, but I was proud of the way we scrapped and fought at the end."
In the first set, the Cougars could not pull away from the Seahawks until a McGinnis kill put the Cougars up 20-18. An attack error from UNC-Wilmington followed by kills from Chubb and McGinnis helped seal the 25-19 victory.
The Cougars seemed to take control of the match in the second set after going up 14-4. McGinnis had scored four of the team's first five points and the College of Charleston was in control. Freshman Catey Warren saw her first playing time of the season midway through the set and she landed her first career kill to give CofC a 15-6 lead. However, the Seahawks rallied to cut the deficit to 19-16. After a College of Charleston timeout, McGinnis came alive again, scoring three of the next four points to help push the Cougars to a 25-17 set victory.
UNC-Wilmington rallied and gained the momentum of the match with solid third set and fourth set victories, leading from the outset of each game. Laite and Gagliardi combined for 10 kills in the third set, while Courtney Porter assisted in all five team blocks of the fourth game as the Seahawks held the Cougars to just .167 hitting.
Despite falling behind 6-3 in the fifth and final set, the Cougars rallied to tie the game at seven, behind a block and kill from Chubb. Both teams traded points in dramatic fashion until an attack error by Laite after a CofC timeout evened the game at 12. McGinnis went up for one final swing from the left side and slammed home the go-ahead kill to the excitement of the crowd. Errors from Gagliardi on the final two points sealed the match for the Cougars.
College of Charleston and Wyoming finished the first day of the Hampton Inn Invitational with identical 2-0 records. Texas A&M Corpus Christi finished 1-1 while North Florida and UNC-Wilmington lost both of the day's matches.
Action continues tomorrow morning when Texas A&M Corpus Christi faces UNC-Wilmington at 10 a.m. College of Charleston will start at approximately noon against North Florida.
