CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston returned home to TD Arena in style, sweeping William & Mary for the second time this season, 3-0 (25-15, 32-30, 25-18).
The Cougars (16-4, 6-0) remained perfect in conference play and stayed one game ahead of Northeastern for first place, while William & Mary (7-15, 2-4) dropped its second sweep at the hands of the Cougars in the last three weeks.
CofC not only continued its impressive six-match winning streak against CAA teams, the Cougars also maintained their streak in outdoing opponents in kills, hitting percentage and digs in every single conference match. Friday night was no exception with Charleston winning the battle in kills (50-37), hitting (.279-.141), digs (67-54) and aces (6-4).
“I thought that our offense was strong and consistent in the first and third sets,” head coach Jason Kepner. “We didn't move our feet very well in the second set and it turned a pretty intense battle. I was proud of how we pulled that set out and got the sweep.”
Sloane White was spectacular for Charleston, tallying 14 kills with just one error for a .520 hitting percentage. Andi Zbojniewicz flew around the court to tally a new season high with a match-best 20 digs.
Emily Neideffer and Kerstin Koehler had several big terminations in the middle with Neideffer tallying eight kills and Koehler finishing with six. They had a combined hitting mark of .427.
Cara Howley and Melissa Morello each finished with six kills and Darcy Dorton made eight, but also committed eight errors.
William & Mary was led by Dessi Koleva and her 13 kills on a match-high 40 swings. Michelle Heath added seven kills and Monika Stanciauskas had six.
The first set went according to Charleston's plan with the Cougars turning a 13-10 lead into a 22-12 runaway. Charleston hit .536 in the set and White posted six kills on seven attempts. The Tribe could not build a run as CofC registered a sideout percentage of 68.0 en route to the 25-15 victory.
Things changed for both teams in the second set when William & Mary raced to a 7-2 lead early. Charleston recovered to go ahead 12-11, but then the point trading started with a flurry. Charleston trailed just 20-19 when a kill from Kristen Larrick and two CofC errors put the set in jeopardy at 23-19. However, the tides turned with a lucky bounce followed by a kill from Neideffer and ace from Howley. White tied the set at 23 and an epic back-and-forth ensued. Each team had several set points, but the big plays continued with the score running to a 30-30 tie, the longest set for CofC since 2010. A huge block from Neideffer and Dorton gave Charleston an advantage and White terminated a slide to end the set, 32-30.
The Cougars built off the momentum of the second set win to cruise in front in the third set, taking a 12-4 lead. CofC's reserve players came in late and Kari Fidelholtz was able to tally two kills late. Charleston won the third frame, 25-18.
College of Charleston will continue at TD Arena on Sunday afternoon with a 1 p.m. bout against James Madison.
