LAWRENCE, Kan. - College of Charleston bounced back from an afternoon loss to Kansas to defeat Wyoming 3-1 (25-15, 26-28, 25-21, 27-25) in the night match of the Jayhawk Classic on Friday.
The Cougars (4-3) hit .247 in a match characterized by standout individual performances and team energy, as CofC handed Wyoming (9-1) its first loss of the season. It was the second four-set win for College of Charleston over Wyoming in as many years.
"We had a great match coming off of a tough start this morning," head coach Jason Kepner said. "The team played well from the beginning, and I was so proud of how they fought against a very talented and previously undefeated Wyoming squad."
Junior Darcy Dorton finished with 22 kills, just one off her season high, and had 10 digs for her fourth double-double this season. Emily Neideffer continued her record-breaking day as she bested her career-high 10 kills from the Kansas match with 14 kills and a hitting percentage of .542, making just one error. She hit .833 (5-0-6) in the clinching fourth set.
Junior Kallie McKown set a new career high with 27 digs as she made plays all over the court from her setter position. She finished with 55 assists and four kills on dump attacks. Senior Kelly Kolich broke out for a season-high nine kills and just two errors as she played in front of her home crowd.
"We had some great individual performances tonight," Kepner said. "I thought Kallie McKown was outstanding in playing defense while also keeping our offense going. Kelly Kolich came off the bench and made some huge plays in the last two sets to help get us over the edge."
Wyoming was led by Jodi Purdy who notched 13 kills and three blocks, but hit just .154 on the match. Becky Stewart and Reese Plante were the highlights defensively, making 31 digs and six blocks, respectively.
College of Charleston dominated the start of the match, racing to an 18-4 lead that had Wyoming on its heels. The Cowgirls were able to recover and scored 11 of the next 17 points before Kerstin Koehler ended the set on a block, giving CofC a 25-15 win. The Cougars held Wyoming to -.062 hitting as the defense made 17 digs and four blocks.
Wyoming responded in the second set by taking a 6-3 lead, but the Cougars immediately responded to take a 10-9 lead after consecutive kills from Dorton. Neither team would build a lead greater than two points until the Cougars seemed to find breathing room at 20-17 off a Purdy attack error. However, the Cowgirls were able to tie the set at 21 and get to set point at 24-23 before a Neideffer kill tied the set again at 24. From there, it was the Dorton/Camille Coffman show. Both players traded two sets of kills to force a tie at 26. Then a Dorton service error and Coffman service ace ended the set in Wyoming's favor, 28-26.
CofC fell behind 5-2 in the third set, but rallied to tie the set at 13 and then go ahead 16-14 on a Sloane White kill. White finished with 11 kills for the match. The Cowgirls quickly tied the set and the teams traded points until College of Charleston pulled away with four kills from Dorton and one from White to give CofC a 25-21 set victory.
College of Charleston jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the fourth set, but Wyoming fought to keep it close as both teams had done all match. The final set featured nine ties and three lead changes until a 5-0 run from the Cougars broke a 15-15 tie and put CofC up 20-15. The run featured big kills from Kolich, McKown and Neideffer. The Cougars eventually held set point at 24-20 and were on the verge of victory, but Wyoming grabbed momentum by scoring the next five points and forcing their own set point at 25-24. Dorton tied the set with a kill and two Wyoming errors gave CofC a 27-25 set victory.
College of Charleston will conclude the Jayhawk Invitational with a 1 p.m. ET match tomorrow against Arizona State.
