CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston never trailed en route to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-18) sweep of Hofstra in volleyball action on Friday night. With the win, College of Charleston guaranteed a share of the CAA Regular Season Championship, holding a three-match lead over Northeastern with three matches remaining. Charleston needs just one win on Sunday to clinch the title outright.
College of Charleston (21-4, 11-0) ran its winning streak to 11 matches as the Cougars have not lost a conference bout in 16 contests, dating back to last year in the Southern Conference. Hofstra (15-12, 5-6) lost ground in its battle for seeding in the conference tournament.
The win marked Charleston's 11th sweep this season and fifth in CAA play. The Cougars remain one of just 11 teams in Division I volleyball that are undefeated in conference play.
Charleston hit a sparkling .392 team attack percentage, the highest mark against any conference opponent, and held the Pride to just .124 hitting. The Cougars made 11 blocks and outdug the visitors, 43-29.
While Charleston's team play overwhelmed the Pride, Hofstra made enough unforced errors to put themselves in a tough spot. Hofstra committed nine service errors and three ball-handling errors.
“It was a complete team victory for us tonight,” head coach Jason Kepner said. “We played well in all aspects of the game and I'm happy to get another win. We are playing at a high level at the right time.”
Darcy Dorton posted a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs to go along with a season-high five blocks. Dorton hit .364 with just three errors for an outstanding sequel to her CAA Offensive Player of the Week performance last Sunday.
Melissa Morello hit .500 and terminated eight kills while making 10 digs. The Cougar middles of Kerstin Koehler and Emily Neideffer played extremely well pin to pin. The two combined to have a piece of 10 different blocks, with Neideffer tallying six kills and Koehler making five.
The CAA's league leader in kills, Hofstra's Kelsie Wills, got her match-high 14 kills, but they came with six costly errors for a .242 attack percentage. Nuria Lopes da Silva had seven kills in the losing effort.
Charleston never trailed at any point during the match, building a 6-1 lead in the first set, a 5-1 lead in the second set and a 5-2 lead in the third set. The Cougars extended its lead to 14-5 in the first set before eventually winning 25-15.
The Pride cut Charleston's lead to 13-10 in the second set, but CofC quickly ran away to a 20-11 lead after two aces from Cara Howley. Hofstra scored four late points before a kill from Morello ended the second set at 25-17.
College of Charleston dashed any notions of a comeback in the beginning of the third set, going up 4-1. Although Hofstra got within four at 14-10, the Charleston machine went to work to build an 18-12 lead after a Sloane White solo block. Koehler finished the set with a kill and Charleston won 25-18 to complete the sweep.
The Cougars will look to win the CAA Regular Season title outright on Sunday when Charleston hosts second-place Northeastern at 1 p.m. Before the match, the Cougars will honor the careers of four outstanding seniors, Kerstin Koehler, Emily Neideffer, Taeler Davis and Darcy Dorton, in their final home match of their careers.
