CHARLESTON, S.C. – Sophomore outside hitter Devon Rachel (Louisville, Ky.) recorded her 11^th double-double of the season with 20 kills and 13 digs to lead the College of Charleston volleyball team to a come-from-behind win over Towson in Colonial Athletic Association play on Sunday afternoon in TD Arena.
 
With the win, College of Charleston (15-7, 8-2 CAA) keeps pace with Northeastern (18-6, 8-2 CAA) atop the CAA standings, and sets up a battle for first place next Friday in Boston, Mass. The Cougars won the match by scores of 25-27, 25-16, 25-14 and 26-24, and tallied 54 kills, nine blocks and 58 digs while hitting .200 in the contest. CofC held Towson to 46 kills, 47 digs and a .141 clip on the attack.
 
Rachel led the line for the Cougars with a match-high 20 kills to go along with 11 digs, four blocks and a .405 hitting percentage. Freshman Lauren Freed (Troy, Ohio) came off the bench and made an immediate impact with 11 kills and a .304 attacking clip, as Maddie Hills (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) added nine kills and four blocks. Elizabeth Hurring (Ocean Springs, Miss.) dished out 32 assists and chipped in nine digs, while McKala Rhodes (Charleston, S.C.) tallied 13 digs.
 
Jocelyn Kuilan paced the Tigers with 19 kills and nine digs, while Candace Steadman added seven smashes and three blocks. Marrisa Wonders dished out 32 assists, and Anna Holehouse posted 13 digs. Lindsay Flaherty tallied a match-high seven blocks.
 
The first set proved to be perhaps the most tightly contested of the afternoon, with Towson rallying from a 22-19 deficit to edge the Cougars, 27-25, and take a 1-0 lead in the match. In the frame, Charleston erased an early 6-1 Towson lead with a 12-5 spurt, and took a 13-11 advantage after Hills' third kill of the set.
 
With the Cougars leading 20-17 later on, Towson countered with a 5-3 stretch to cut the lead to 23-22. The teams would combine for seven errors over the remaining seven points of the frame, as Towson took a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Cougars fought back with a much improved second, tallying 15 kills and hitting .355 en route to a 25-16 win and a 1-1 deadlock in the match. Charleston's big push came midway through the frame, when a Rachel smash sparked an 11-5 run that gave the Cougars a 19-14 advantage. The Cougars would cap the frame with a 6-2 spurt to even the match at 1-1.
 
Charleston's offense kept churning in the third, as the Cougars put down 16 kills and hit a blistering .478 to take a 2-1 lead with a 25-14 third-set win. The Tigers were on the back foot throughout the frame, as the Cougars strung together an 11-5 run to open an 18-8 lead following a smash from Freed. The Cougars kept the Tigers at arm's length for the remainder of the set with a 7-6 edge over the final 13 points.
 
Towson put together an impassioned effort to push the match to a decisive fifth set in the fourth, as the Cougars were forced to battle back from a 15-9 deficit early on. Peyton Eisnaugle (Dallas, Texas) would provide the spark the Cougars needed with an emphatic kill, as the freshman's smash ignited an 11-5 Cougar run to even the tally at 20-20. The Tigers would counter with a 4-1 spurt, which pushed the Cougars to set point at 24-21 following a block by Flaherty and Kuilan.
 
Towson's effort to snuff out the rally nearly succeeded but the Cougars had other plans, as Eisnaugle partnered with Freed first and Rachel second for back-to-back blocks to once again spark the comeback. Rachel took over from there, as the sophomore put down three of her match-high 20 kills in quick succession to hand Charleston the four-set victory.
 
Charleston will travel to Boston, Mass. on Friday evening to take on Northeastern in a battle for first place in the Colonial Athletics Association. First serve is slated for 7:00 pm.