CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat BIG EAST opponent Georgetown (27-29, 25-27, 25-23, 25-22, 15-13) in five sets on the opening night of the Holiday Inn Charleston/Mt. Pleasant Tournament at TD Arena.
In a match that featured 43 ties and 18 lead changes with only set decided by more than two points, College of Charleston (5-4) battled with its back against the wall and knocked off yet another major conference opponent in Georgetown (6-4). The win marked the first time since September 2, 2011 that the Cougars have come back to win after being down 2-0 after CofC defeated Harvard that day.
The win was highlighted by a number of individual and team milestones marked by Darcy Dorton's 20-20 performance (20 kills, 22 digs), marking just the second time a player has registered a 20-20 in digs and kills in the Southern Conference this season.
"I was really proud of our maturity to come back and win this match after going down 2-0," head coach Jason Kepner said. "We need to do a better job of finishing sets when we have leads late, but I still thought that we played very courageously tonight. Melissa Morello was outstanding off the bench and gave us a huge boost."
Morello and junior Taeler Davis also stepped up big in the face of pressure. Morello set new career highs as she tallied her first double-double, landing 11 kills and making 12 while she hit an impressive .357. Davis set new career highs in assists (62), digs (13) and blocks (5) as she played in her first full match this season at setter.
Sloane White set a new season high with 18 kills and no errors as she hit .450 on the match. The Cougars finished with a team attack percentage of .267 while holding Georgetown to .201.
Kerstin Koehler made nine total blocks to lead a team defensive effort that set a new season high in blocks with 16. Emily Shelton recorded 21 digs and Andi Zbojniewicz made seven digs.
Georgetown was led by an impressive performance from Alex Simpson who had 26 kills and 23 digs. Dani White registered 20 kills, Lauren Saar tallied 19 digs and 13 kills, and setter Haley Lowrance paced the Hoyas with 72 assists.
The Cougars built a 9-5 lead in the first set and then extended it to 16-12 after a kill from White. College of Charleston seemed to be in control with a 22-18 lead late in the set with a kill from Emily Neideffer, but the Hoyas went on a 5-1 run to tie the game at 23. The Cougars had set point with a kill from Dorton but Georgetown tied it again and went on to win 29-27 after two kills from Alex Johnson.
The second set was even tighter than the first with 15 tie scores as the teams were nearly even in sideout percentage (53-50). The Cougars overcame a late 23-20 deficit with a 4-0 run to set up set point. But a ballhandling error kept the Hoyas alive and Georgetown eventually won 27-25 with kills from Dani White.
College of Charleston took a small lead in the third set with a 3-0 run after a 15-15 tie. The Hoyas battled back to tie it up at 21-all, but the Cougars won three of the next four, and Sloane White put the set away, 25-23.
The fourth set was another tight one as it featured 14 ties, but only two lead changes as the Cougars maintained slight leads throughout. With the match on the line, Georgetown's Dani White made an error at 22 and then Neideffer and Davis executed a perfect block to give CofC set point. Neideffer finished the set with a kill and CofC forced a fifth set.
College of Charleston led 8-5 at the turn in the final set, but the Hoyas pulled back to within 11-10 on a kill from Annalee Abell. Morello put CofC up 14-11 and Georgetown nearly came back but a Sloane White kill after a CofC timeout gave the Cougars a 15-13 set win and match victory.
College of Charleston will face Presbyterian at noon tomorrow and then conclude the tournament with Michigan State at 7 p.m.
