Saturday, August 27
Chants Sweep FIU/Miami Invitational
MIAMI, Fla. - The Coastal Carolina volleyball team recorded a 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-11) victory over Miami (Fla.) Saturday evening to complete its three-match sweep of the Florida International/Miami Invitational.
It is the second straight year during the Jozsef Forman era that the Chanticleers (3-0) are crowned champions of their season-opening tournament.
Junior outside hitter Leah Hardeman led the Chants with 12 kills at a .276 clip with four digs and a block. Senior outside hitter Natasa Savovic recorded a team-leading nine digs and seven kills.
Senior middle blocker Annayka Legros paced the Chants hitting .700 with eight kills and six total blocks.
Coastal took the first point in the opening set and used a 6-0 run on the serve of Savovic to take a commanding 11-4 lead. Miami never got within four points of the Chants for the remainder of the set as Hardeman tallied six kills and Legros three blocks to lead CCU to a 25-16 set win.
Miami evened the second set several times, including a mid-round 16-16 tie, but Coastal strung together a 7-3 run to put itself in front 23-19 before closing out the game 25-21
The Gators kept pace with Coastal in the early going of the final set before, with the game tied 5-5, the Chants went on a 15-3 run to build an insurmountable 20-8 lead. Hardeman and Legros accounted for four and three kills, respectively, in the final set, while Kate Federico put down two aces and tallied three digs.
The Chants return to action next weekend for the Notre Dame Invitational, beginning with a 7 p.m. match against the host Fighting Irish on Friday.
@stAteVolleyball Sweeps NC State
FORT WORTH, Texas (8/27/16) – The Arkansas State volleyball team continued its season-opening tournament at the TCU Invitational with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-19) sweep of North Carolina State at the University Recreation Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Red Wolves (2-0) outhit NC State (1-2) .248 to .118 and had 11 blocks against five for the Wolfpack to help secure the win for A-State. The victory for Arkansas State was the program’s first over a school from the Atlantic Coast Conference since the 1995 season when the team defeated North Carolina 3-1.
“I loved the effort we got from the team and this was a solid outing by us against a team from a very good conference,” A-State head coach David Rehr said. “We started a little slow in set one because we got stuck in a rotation they were able to exploit a couple of times, but once we got a point to get out of that things started rolling. We will look to make some adjustments before playing TCU later.”
North Carolina State raced out to a 6-1 lead in set one, but A-State responded with an 8-3 run, finished with a block by Mallory Warrington and Anna Murphy, to tie the set at 9-9. The Wolfpack retook the advantage at 17-11 with an 8-2 run of their own, but A-State closed the set on a 14-4 run to win game one 25-21.
Both teams began set two evenly with the score tied at 8-8 before a 6-0 run by Arkansas State, capped by two Murphy kills, put the tally at 14-8. NC State battled back to within two points a few times, the last at 24-22 on an A-State attack error, but a kill by Carlisa May clinched a 25-22 set win and 2-0 edge in the match for the Red Wolves.
A-State jumped out to a 10-7 advantage in set three after a Warrington kill, but NC State came back to tie things up 17-17 on a kill by Perry Ramsey. However, the Red Wolves used a 7-1 run, capped by a Drew Jones kill, to set up match point. The Wolfpack earned one point to make the score 24-19, but a kill by Murphy gave Arkansas State a 25-19 set win and 3-0 match victory.
Jones (13) and May (11) led the team in kills for the match on hitting percentages of .227 and .214, respectively. Warrington dished out 37 assists to pace the Red Wolves and also tallied six digs and three blocks. Markie Schaedig registered 19 digs for the second straight match, while Jessica Heuertz was second on the team with 13 of her own. Kelsey Reis recorded seven blocks, while Murphy added two blocks defensively to go along with seven kills on a .429 attacking percentage.
A-State will play its final match of the TCU Invitational tonight at the University Recreation Center against the host school TCU at 7 p.m. Live stats will be available on AStateStats.com and live video will be available on GoFrogs.com with a paid subscription.
Mountainners Cruise to Straight-Set Sweep of Siena
BLACKSBURG, Va. –– Appalachian State University volleyball capped off a perfect day with its second straight-set sweep on Saturday - a 3-0 win over Siena.
The Mountaineers (2-1) dominated from the opening serve, hitting .274 with 41 team kills and 39 assists, while holding the Saints (1-2) to just a hitting percentage of just .024.
Ashlyn Brown led the offensive attack again for Appalachian with 35 assists. Brown also added three digs and a kill.
Redshirt freshman Jenna Talbert led the Mountaineers with 12 kills, while Emma Longley totaled 11. Five other Mountaineers netted kills, including Cassidy Stephenson with six, Tierney Flaherty with five and Alana Shoff with four.
App State cruised to a first set victory after jumping out to an 11-4 lead. The Mountaineers kept the Saints at a distance and extended their lead to 11 with a 22-11 lead. Three errors and a kill from Talbert ended the first set 25-13.
With Siena leading 12-10 in the second set, the Mountaineers called timeout and promptly went on a 4-0 run with back-to-back aces from Kennedy Wilson and a kill from Longley. Following a Siena error and a Taylor Ashcraft ace, the Saints called timeout. Out of the timeout, Ashcraft added another ace followed by a Talbert kill to seal the set for the Black and Gold, 25-19.
Up 2-0 in the match, the Mountaineers took a 13-6 lead in the third set which forced a Siena timeout. After the timeout, the Apps got three-straight kills from Stephenson and Longley to increase their lead to 17-7. Appalachian’s lead would balloon to as many as 12 en route to a 25-15 set win to clinch the match.
Appalachian State will return to action next week for the Black and Gold Invitational. App State will play UNCW, Wofford and Ohio beginning on Friday, Sept. 2 and carrying over to Saturday, Sept. 3.
PANTHERS ASSERT DOMINANCE IN JMU INVITATIONAL FINALE
HARRISONBURG, Va. – Georgia State bounced back from a tough loss Friday night against James Madison with a dominating performance versus North Carolina Central on Saturday. The Panthers defeated the Eagles in straight sets and relied on veterans Eliza Zachary and Kristina Stinson as well as underclassmen Anna Rantala and Morgan Hash to set the tone of the match.
Match 3: GSU 3, North Carolina Central 0
After a disappointing loss at the hands of JMU last night, Georgia State came out aggressively and established its tempo early in the match. Head coach Sally Polhamus was pleased with her team's play and character throughout the tournament.
"We battled hard all weekend long. We navigated the ups and downs, and to come away with two wins is great. We took great strides in our play and we can't wait to get back to work next week," Polhamus said.
Early in the match, Sarah Renner’s ace gave the Panthers an 8-6 lead, but the Eagles used their size to frustrate GSU early on. Anna Rantala and Kristina Stinson were pivotal in attack, setting the stage for Celeste Friesen’s ace that made it 14-11 Panthers.
The Eagles stayed within arm’s reach of the Panthers throughout the first set and came within one at 21-20 on Jazmine Daye’s block. The Panthers’ response to the Eagles’ run was crucial. Anna Rantala and Morgan Hash’s kills helped give GSU the set at 25-20. The team picked up right where it left off in the first with Stinson continuing the relentless attack. The Panthers jumped out to a 11-3 lead after Stinson’s fifth kill and another Renner ace.
Georgia State used stellar defensive play to control the match from the opening serve. The Panthers took it to the Eagles with an aggressive attacking style that featured Eliza Zachary as well as Hash and Renner. Leading 18-8, GSU kept its foot on the gas with Stinson registering her seventh kill to make it 23-11. One point later, Stinson’s kill from Kaitlyn Dachs gave the Panthers a 2-0 set lead with a 25-11 score.
GSU got off to a little bit of a slow start in the third set, but Rantala and Hash continued to attack to keep the Panthers close at 5-3. Paige Phillips’ kill made it 8-4 Eagles before Georgia State went on a 5-1 run to tie things up at nine apiece. Rantala and Stinson’s kills gave the team an 11-10 lead that it did not surrender for the rest of the set. Hash’s sixth kill gave the Panthers a commanding 17-13 lead.
From there, the Eagles battled but it was the Panthers that took the set and match with a 25-19 win. Renner’s 29 assists and Friesen’s 10 digs also headlined a solid performance to close out the JMU Invitational.
GSU is back in action Friday in Nashville for the Bruiser Showcase.
Canete's double-double not enough as UTA splits Day 2
ARLINGTON, Texas -- UT Arlington split a pair of matches on Saturday in the final day of play of the Maverick Classic at College Park Center.
The Mavericks concluded the opening weekend 2-1 with a win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the opener and a hard-found loss in the finale to Sacramento State. Qiana Canete picked up her second double-double of the weekend with 12 kills and 13 digs in Match 3.
"We got what we wanted other than a win," UT Arlington coach Diane Seymour said after the second match. "We wanted to play against a worthy opponent and did a good job in the first three sets. We let the first get a little away from us and in the fourth we weren't as sharp as we need to be."
UTA hits the road on Tuesday to take on North Texas in its next match at 7 p.m. The Mavs then play two nonconference tournaments away from home before returning to host the final nonconference tournament on Sept. 16-17. Teams heading to Arlington include Samford, New Mexico, Houston Baptist and UTEP. Tickets are available at UTATickets.com
Maverick Classic All-Tournament Team
Shannon Boyle - Sac St
Lexie Skalbeck - Sac St
Kennedy Kurtz - Sac St
Qiana Canete - UT Arlington
Taylor Murata - UT Arlington
Jordyn Vaughn - Sam Houston
Match 1: UT Arlington 3, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 0 (Final Stats)
UT Arlington used an efficient offense and stifling defense to cruise past Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-6), in its first match of the second day of the Maverick Classic at College Park Center on Saturday.
The Mavs (2-0) hit .383 for the match and held the Golden Lions (0-2) to just -.109 hitting, getting eight kills from Zhanelle Geathers and 10 kills and eight digs from Qiana Canete. In all, four Mavs finished with at least six kills while the squad misfired only seven times on 81 swings in a convincing win.
It took UTA just 57 minutes to complete the sweep, hitting .480 without an attack error in second set before forcing a dozen UAPB attack errors in a 25-6 win in Set 3.
Players of the Match
Canete just missed her second straight double-double to open up the season, finishing with 10 kills with just one error on 22 swings (.409) and adding eight digs. Zhanelle Geathers added eight kills with four blocks, while Cassidy Wheeler dished out 19 assists. Libero Taylor Murata picked up eight digs, but also collected eight assists from her libero spot.
Key Stats
UTA dominated the net against the Golden Lions, finishing with 9.0 blocks to just 1.0 for UAPB. The Mavs doubled up UAPB 38-19 in kills and did not allow a set with a positive hitting percentage, including holding UAPB to -.294 hitting in the final set.
Match 2: Sacramento State 3, UT Arlington 1 (Final Stats)
UT Arlington had an edge on the Hornets early in each of the four sets played, but were only able to come up with one in the tournament's finale.
Leading by as much as five points in the opener, UTA saw its lead dissipate as the Hornets made a charge. Sacramento State hit at a .250 clip with 21 kills to take the opener 26-24.
The Hornets came on top in another close set in the second with a 25-23 win before UTA had an answer. The Mavericks hit just .200 in the third, but held Sacramento State to just 12-40 hitting to claim its first set of the match.
In the fourth, things went south on the offensive side of the ball for UTA. The Mavs had just eight kills on 34 attempts, while the Hornets knocked down 16 of their 36 attempts and went on to win 25-18.
Players of the Match
Along with Canete's second double-double, Kaitlyn Granger provided a spark offensively as she had a team-high 14 kills. Geathers was also in double digits with 10 kills as she hit .500 for the match.
Key Stats
Taking UTA out of rhythm, Maverick setter Wheeler was second with 15 digs. ... Two Sacramento State players registered 20 kills or more. Madeline Cannon had 21, while Shannon Boyle knocked down 20.