Cougars Open Road Slate with Crosstown Trip to The Citadel

Tuesday, August 29

Charleston, S.C.

6 PM

College of Charleston

The Citadel

Cougars Open Road Slate with Crosstown Trip to The Citadel

8/28/2023 3:00:00 PM | Volleyball

CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston volleyball opens their 2023 road slate Tuesday night with a familiar foe in The Citadel at 6p.m. Tuesday's meeting marks the first trip to McAlister Fieldhouse since the 2021 spring season.

Charleston enters with a 1-2 record sweeping away Le Moyne and falling in two back-and-forth battles with Davidson and West Virginia over the weekend. The Citadel swept their two matches in Daytona Beach on Friday taking down Marshall from the Sun Belt 3-0 then handling business against the host Bethune-Cookman.

Charleston and The Citadel meet for the 34th time as the Cougars hold a strong 32-1 advantage in series history. Last season saw the home Cougars sweep the Bulldogs in front of a loud TD Arena crowd opening weekend.

Tuesday Schedule
Charleston at The Citadel | Tuesday, August 29 at 6:00 p.m.

Video: ESPN+ (Subscription required)
Live Stats: CitadelSports.com
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QUICK HITTERS

The Cougars open the 2023 road slate Tuesday night at The Citadel from McAlister Fieldhouse in the 34th meeting in series history. Tuesday marks the first of a 10-match road swing for the Cougars who head to Georgia Southern, Charleston Southern, Western Kentucky and William & Mary to open CAA play before returning home for a match inside TD Arena.
Lexi Wierzbicki collected her 1,000th career kill Saturday night in the first set against West Virginia. The Easley, S.C. native finished the weekend with a team-high 3.89 kills/set while adding three service aces and seven blocks.
Anna Smith paced the Cougar attack with 38 kills playing all 11 sets (3.45/set) and hit a team-leading .286.
Seven Cougars took at least 20 swings Opening Weekend as the team hit .243 overall while the backline held the opposition below .180 and blocked 24 attempts.
Charleston's 13 service aces in their sweep of Le Moyne tied for the second-most in a three-set match in program history. Tynley Smeltzer led the way with 6 aces while classmate Chandler Manusky added five.
Sopheea Mink, Cailyn Bolser, Elli Kinney and Hannah Scott all made their Cougar debuts over the weekend contributing in key spots throughout the CofC Classic.
Tuesday night is just the fifth meeting between the Cougars and Bulldogs since Charleston left the SoCon for the CAA (after the 2012 season) and third inside McAlister Fieldhouse since 2018. Charleston took the 2019 meeting in 3-0 fashion and The Citadel took a 3-1 decision during the 2021 spring season.
Tuesday is also the first of two midweek matches against in-city rivals as the Cougars travel to Charleston Southern next week for a 6 p.m. match at the Buc Dome. Charleston is 70-9 all-time against their two crosstown rivals with 30-plus wins head-to-head in both series.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

The Citadel returns home after a 2-0 Friday at Bethune-Cookman sweeping both the Wildcats and Marshall. Alli Ruffin, who was named Preseason All-SoCon, led the Bulldog attack with 5.33 kills/set and hit .239 with six service aces. Angelina Sayles added nine aces for The Citadel while six Bulldogs – led by Ruffin – tallied 10-plus kills over their six sets played. Jaelynn Elgert led the backline with 4.67 digs/set and the front tandem of Gina Delancey and Sayles added four blocks. The Citadel was picked to finish sixth in the SoCon Preseason Poll after an 11-19 campaign in 2022.