Saturday, November 14
Davidson, N.C.
4:00 p.m.
Davidson College
3
vs
1
Chattanooga
‘Cats Strong in Regular Season Finale, Score a 3-1 Win over UTC in Volleyball Action
11/14/2009 7:48:53 PM | Volleyball
Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Behind a season-and career-best 16 kills from Jorden Benedict and another 16 from Sarabeth Peele, the Davidson women's volleyball team scored a 3-1 season-ending win against visiting Chattanooga in a Southern Conference match on Saturday afternoon at Belk Arena.
The Wildcats captured the first two sets, 25-23, 25-18, before UTC earned a win in the third set, 25-22, and then the 'Cats closed out the win with another 25-23 win.
Davidson finished the year on a strong note, recording wins in five of its last eight matches to end its 2009 campaign at 9-23 overall and 6-10 in league action. Chattanooga fell to 12-17, 4-12 in the SoCon.
Benedict was in the zone on Saturday, punching down 16 of her 29 kills for a .414 hitting percentage to lead the Wildcats. Peele finished 16-of-47, while Madison Benedict closed out the players in double digits with 10 kills on 23 swings for a .286 hitting percentage.
Setting up the Wildcats offense was Anna Bradbury with 33 assists, while Hayley Lawson finished with 12.
Molly Crenshaw and Christine Perzinski provided some solid defense, closing with 20 and 10 digs, respectively, for the Wildcats.
Chattanooga's lone player in double digits in kills was Laura Brock with 12 swings that landed for points, while she added eight digs. Paula Passmore matched Crenshaw with match-high honors, getting 20 digs and Meagan Ernd had 10. Cassie Conner had a match-best 34 assists.
Jorden was the hitting hero in the first set, putting down five of her nine swings, including three of them in a critical point of the match when Davidson came back from a 16-14 deficit. The score would go back-and-forth until Davidson got a UTC service error followed by a service ace from Perzinski for a 22-20 lead, forcing a Chattanooga timeout. Two Lady Moc attack errors and a kill from Lawson out of the time out carried the 'Cats to the 25-23 win.
Set two featured six lead changes and 14 ties as it was a battle through the first half of the set. Davidson though, took control when it got an attack error by UTC's Ernd and then a kill from Madison. The Wildcats would hold a two-point lead until the Mocs had three straight errors to give the Wildcats a 23-18 lead. A service ace from Bradbury, one of three in the match, and a put-away from Erin Lupfer gave Davidson a 25-18 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
After the break, Chattanooga jumped out to a 10-7 lead with two service aces from Brock and an attack error by the 'Cats. Then after Davidson came back to knot things up at 12-all, the Mocs went on a 6-2 run for an 18-14 advantage. They would maintain at least a two-point lead until Davidson again stormed back to get back-to-back kills from Peele and Jorden to tie the score again at 22-22. But, UTC countered with back-to-back kills from Brock, who had five in the set, and a Wildcat attacking error to score a 25-22 win in set three.
Just like the first three sets, the final one again went back-and-forth with neither team able to pull away.
Finally, tied at 18-apiece, Jorden gave the 'Cats the lead for good with a kill over the middle for a 19-18 advantage. A kill from her sister and two hitting errors by the Mocs pushed the lead out to 22-18 for Davidson. UTC made one last charge, closing within one, 23-22, on a kill from Ernd, but the combo of Jorden Benedict and Peele sealed the win with a kill each for the 25-23 victory.
Davidson closed out the match hitting .216 in the final set for a match-best percentage of .189 (52-25-148). The 'Cats had seven service aces and earned five team blocks. Chattanooga finished swinging at a .149 clip and had seven team blocks.
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