GREENVILLE, S.C. - Playing in a raucous environment in one of the league's toughest road destinations, College of Charleston defeated Furman on the Paladins' Senior Day in a thrilling five-set win (25-20, 16-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-12) on Saturday afternoon.
The win marked just the fourth time that CofC has gone to five sets this season and the first time that the Cougars (21-7, 12-2) have won in Furman's Alley Gym since the 2009 SoCon Championship match. The match featured 20 ties and six lead changes as both teams battled long and aggressive rallies.
Every Cougar starter stepped up in different key portions of the match as five players reached double digits in kills and five players reached double digits in digs, with three players notching double-doubles.
"I'm so proud of the way that we played this afternoon," head coach Jason Kepner said. "Furman played their hearts out for a great senior class, and we were able to counter them. It was a great volleyball match and we were able to come out on top and stay in the hunt for the SoCon South Division title."
Darcy Dorton was the Cougars' kill leader with 19 kills and 11 digs. Sloane White tallied 13 kills with six of them, including match point, coming in the fifth set. Melissa Morello made 12 kills and 15 digs.
The Cougar middle blockers played well with Emily Neideffer hitting .409 with 13 kills and five blocks, while Kerstin Koehler tallied 10 kills and two blocks for a .588 hitting mark.
Setter Taeler Davis assisted on 62 kills while also making 10 digs on the back row. Emily Shelton tallied 16 digs and Andi Zbojniewicz made 10 digs.
The Furman Paladins were led by the senior foursome playing in their last home match of their careers. Chandler Ambrester tallied 24 kills and 14 digs and Caroline Adams made 16 kills and three blocks. Natalie Braun and Christina Dorismond each landed 13 kills, while Christina Curry hit .417 and made three blocks.
In the first set, the Cougars raced from a 13-11 lead to a 19-12 advantage with a 6-1 run. Effective CofC passing kept the Cougars in system while the Paladins struggled to send over strong attacks. Furman eventually went on a run to pull the set to 23-19, but College of Charleston closed out the frame with a kill from Dorton to win 25-20. The Cougars outhit Furman 16-13 and held a major advantage in hitting percentage, .333-.184. Dorton finished with six first-set kills and Morello made five digs.
Furman used an 8-0 run late in the second set to turn a 15-14 deadlock into a 23-14 lead. The Cougars made four errors during the run as the Paladins put the home crowd into a fever pitch. Although CofC broke the run with a kill from Morello, Dorismond quickly gave Furman set point and a CofC service error ended the set, 25-16. College of Charleston hit just .111 in the second set, while Furman hit .282 with 19 digs.
Neither team was able to pull away in the third set as CofC held a one- or two-point lead throughout most of the frame with five ties and two lead changes. College of Charleston hit .406 as a team with Morello carrying the squad with crosscourt kills throughout the middle points. The freshman had five kills in the set to power CofC to a 20-18 lead. A kill from Koehler put CofC up 23-21, but the Paladins sided out to bring the margin to 23-22. A kill from White after a long and aggressive rally gave the Cougars set point and forced a Furman timeout. An attack from Braun went long for Furman and CofC won the third set, 25-22.
College of Charleston led 14-11 in the fourth set after a Davis dump kill, but Furman scored the next four points to lead 15-14 after a block. CofC pulled to within 18-17 after a Dorton kill, but Furman never trailed for the rest of the set as the Paladin seniors landed kill after kill. Furman eventually won the set, 25-21, after a kill from Ambrester.
College of Charleston never trailed in the fifth set as a kill from Neideffer put CofC up 1-0 and both teams mostly sided out to keep the score within one point. College of Charleston eventually dug a Furman attack and Morello responded to put CofC up 13-11. Dorton tallied a kill after a Furman timeout and White made her sixth kill of the set on the final point as CofC celebrated a 15-12 set win.
College of Charleston will conclude the regular season this week at home, hosting The Citadel on Tuesday night and UNCG on Saturday night.
