CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston swept The Citadel, 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-21) on Election Night in the penultimate home match for the Cougars of the 2012 regular season.
The win put College of Charleston (22-7, 13-2) within a half-game of first place in the SoCon South Division. If the Cougars can win its final match of the regular season on Saturday, and if Georgia Southern loses one of its final two matches, CofC will win the SoCon South Division title.
College of Charleston held the Bulldogs to a negative hitting percentage of -.026 as CofC tallied 10 blocks and forced 28 Citadel hitting errors while making 55 digs. This marks the second time that Charleston has held an opponent below .000 for a match, after forcing Wofford to -.021 on October 6.
The entire CofC team saw at least one set of action with all front row players tallying a kill. Darcy Dorton hit .400 and tallied nine kills and three blocks in two sets played, while Kerstin Koehler made seven kills and two blocks.
Emily Neideffer made five kills and three blocks, hitting .455. Lizzie Theesfeld made five kills with just one error for a hitting percentage of .400. Taeler Davis tallied 34 assists, 10 digs and three blocks from her setter position.
Defensively, Emily Shelton made 18 digs and Andi Zbojniewicz got eight digs on the back line.
The Citadel's Rachael Farrell and Ise d'Angelo each made seven kills, but both players also suffered seven errors for .000 hitting percentages.
College of Charleston broke open the first set with a 7-0 run to stretch a 14-12 lead into a 21-12 lead on consecutive blocks from Dorton. A kill from Dorton followed by an ace from Davis gave CofC a 25-14 set victory.
Citadel held closer in the second set, pulling to within 18-16 after a service ace from the Bulldogs' Haley Corson. CofC ended the set on a 6-2 run, including a block from Koehler and Kari Fidelholtz to win the second set, 25-18.
The Bulldogs grabbed an early lead against the Cougar reserves in the third set, but CofC clawed back to a tie at 10, and then quickly led 16-11 after a block from Grace Rebarchak and Fidelholtz. A Farrell kill pulled Citadel to within 21-18, but she then made two errors to put CofC up 23-18. A Theesfeld solo block ended the match at 25-21.
College of Charleston will celebrate the careers of Kelly Kolich and Emily Shelton on Saturday's home finale against UNCG at 7 p.m.
