Peele Shines in Debut, 'Cats Volleyball Cruises in First Two Matches

Friday, August 24

Greensboro, N.C.

5:00

Davidson College Athletics

vs. Radford

Woeste combined with Pierucci for 52 digs in the pair of matches

Peele Shines in Debut, 'Cats Volleyball Cruises in First Two Matches

8/24/2007 10:36:52 PM | Volleyball

Lauren Biggers

Match One Box Score
Match Two Box Score

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Freshman Sarabeth Peele had an outstanding collegiate debut in her first two career matches, picking up a combined team-best 31 kills and the Davidson Wildcats opened the 2007 season in winning style with two 3-0 wins over UNC Wilmington (30-22, 30-17, 30-28) and Radford (30-22, 30-24, 30-28) at the UNC Greensboro/High Point Triad Challenge on Friday. Davidson starts the year 2-0 for the second straight year.

Peele picked up a combined 31 kills on 56 swings for a .446 hitting percentage against the Seahawks and Highlanders. The freshman also chipped in with 12 digs, three service aces and a block. Junior Kittery Neale was second with a total of 20 kills and three other Wildcats finished with 10 or more kills combined in the two matches.

Defensively, the senior duo of Katie Pierucci (22) and Lindsey Woeste (30) dug out a combined 52 digs in the two matches and three players shared the team lead with seven blocks each on the day.

Peele paced the Wildcats to a 3-0 win over Wilmington, collecting 15 kills on just 26 attacks and hitting .500 in her collegiate debut. Freshmen Hayley Lawson had 42 assists, and fellow classmate Jorden Benedict posted nine kills and a match-high four service aces, continuing the strong debut of the 2007 class. The seniors also made a solid showing with Pierucci adding 12 kills, Woeste leading all players with 16 digs, and Courtney Cron getting four service aces.

The Seahawks took the first point of the match, but Davidson regained control and pulled ahead 15-11 to force Wilmington into a timeout. The Wildcats extended their lead, 20-15, but three straight errors forced a timeout. Back-to-back kills from Peele put the 'Cats back on track, and Davidson coasted to the 30-22 win to take game one.

Game two was back and forth before four straight points gave the Wildcats an 8-4 edge. Davidson extended its lead,19-12, and forced another Seahawk timeout. Cron served four straight points out of the break to put the 'Cats ahead, 23-12, and Neale put away the game-winner to deliver the 30-17 victory and match advantage.

Continuing its dominance, Davidson opened game three on a 6-1 run behind strong serving from Woeste. The Hawks marched back to knot the score at nine in the closest game of the match, but Davidson never surrendered the lead. The Wildcats pulled ahead 27-21, but lost five straight points to narrow the score, 27-26. A Seahawk error gave Davidson its first shot at match point, but Paula McConnell put away a pass from Jill Hoeck to make the score 29-28. Peele answered with her 15th kill of the day to give Davidson a 30-28 win in game three and the team's first win of the season.

Match two started much the same for the Wildcats as it did against the Seahawks with Davidson capturing a 30-22 victory. Junior Alison Dwyer gave Davidson a 10-6 advantage on back-to-back kills in the early going. Peele then gave the Wildcats a 26-20 lead later with one of her seven kills she recorded in game one, and the 'Cats went onto to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Pierucci gave Davidson one of its biggest leads to start the second game when she hammered home two kills for an 11-3 advantage. Radford came to within four, 16-12, on an attack error, but Davidson rattled off an 8-2 run for a 24-14 lead, and went onto take game two by the count of 30-24 when Neale finished it off with her fifth kill of the game.

After a short break between games, Radford regrouped and jumped out to a 7-3 lead due to some Wildcat errors. The game went back and forth from there, till Peele picked up a kill to give Davidson a slight 17-15 advantage. The Highlanders came back with a 7-1 run to regain the lead at 22-18, forcing the 'Cats to call a timeout. Coming out of the break, Neale brought the Wildcats right back with two kills to tie things up at 27-all. After a Radford timeout, Davidson closed the door with a service ace and kills from Neale and Peele for the 30-28 come-from-behind win. Neale closed out the match picking up 15 or her 20 kills on the day against Radford.

Davidson will open its home season, hosting the Mizuno Wildcat Classic at Belk Arena on Fri., Aug. 31 and Sat., Sept. 1. The 'Cats will take on James Madison Friday night at 7:30 p.m.. On Saturday, Davidson hosts High Point at 12:30 p.m. and Connecticut at 7:30 p.m.