CHARLESTON, S.C. – Kennedy Madison (Evansville, Ind.) tied her career-high with 23 kills, and Allison Beckman (Apex, N.C.) recorded a double-double with 57 assists and 13 digs to pace the College of Charleston volleyball team on Thursday night, as the Cougars fell to James Madison in a thrilling five-set battle in Colonial Athletics Association play in TD Arena.
 
James Madison (16-10, 8-5 CAA) won the match by scores of 21-25, 25-20, 26-24, 20-25, and 15-12, while recording 71 kills, 76 digs and 11 blocks. College of Charleston (15-10, 8-5 CAA) tallied 69 kills, 75 digs and nine blocks in the contest, as the two teams drop into a tie for third place in the CAA standings one game behind second-place Hofstra (19-7, 9-4 CAA).
 
Madison paced the Cougars with 23 kills and a .465 hitting percentage, while Krissy Mummey (Hudson, Ohio) added 14 kills and four blocks. Devon Rachel (Louisville, Ky.) and Maddie Hills (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) tallied 12 and 11 kills, respectively, as Beckman dished out 57 assists to go along with 13 digs. McKala Rhodes (Charleston, S.C.) recorded 21 digs and a pair of service aces for the Cougars.
 
Janey Goodman led the way for James Madison with 33 kills, while Katie Whitmire added 14 smashes. Kelly Robertson and Briley Brind'Amour each tallied eight kills as Tilbe Yaglioglu posted 43 assists, 15 digs and three aces. Taylor Austin recorded a match-high 34 digs.
 
The Cougars jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-21 win in the first set. Neither team held more than a three-point advantage in the frame until Charleston pulled away with a 6-2 run to end the set.
 
James Madison fought back in the second with a 25-20 victory to even the match at 1-1. The Dukes broke an early 4-4 deadlock with a 12-7 spurt, which was capped by a tandem block by Whitmire and Taylor Gail that gave the Dukes a 16-11 lead. Charleston would trim the margin to 22-18 with three straight points moments later, before James Madison countered with a 3-2 spurt to close out the frame.
 
The third set proved to be perhaps the most competitive of the match, with Charleston taking a 16-12 lead midway through the frame on a Rachel kill before a 5-3 JMU spurt cut the margin to 19-17 moments later. James Madison would even the tally at 22-22 on the heels of another 5-3 spurt, and eventually take the set, 26-24, on back-to-back kills by Goodman to claim a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
Charleston answered with a strong fourth set, winning the frame by a 25-20 margin to send the match to a decisive fifth frame. The Cougars opened the set with a 14-7 run, which forced the Dukes to burn both their timeouts early in the frame as Hills punctuated the stretch with one of her best swings of the night. James Madison crept back to within four moments later, but the Cougars were able to keep the Dukes at arm's length for the remainder of the set before a huge block by Mummey and Riana Brennan (Los Gatos, Calif.) capped the set at 25-20.
 
The two teams would battle for every ball throughout the fifth, with James Madison taking an 11-9 advantage on a kill from Goodman before back-to-back swings from Mummey and Rachel knotted the score at 12-12. James Madison quickly called a timeout to quell the rally, and after a Whitmire kill, snatched the final two points to close out the five-set victory.
 
Charleston returns to the court on Saturday when the Cougars host Elon in CAA play. First serve is slated for 1:00 pm from TD Arena.