Volleyball Suffers 3-0 Setback to Georgia Southern

Monday, October 8

Davidson, N.C.

6:00 pm

Davidson College

7-9, 3-2SoCon

Georgia Southern

13-6, 5-1SoCon

Georgia Southern

Davidson

Volleyball Suffers 3-0 Setback to Georgia Southern

10/8/2012 7:58:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Ashley Bailey

Game Highlights
Buy action shots at Davidson Photos

DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Wildcat volleyball team struggled against a strong Georgia Southern offense, falling to the hard-hitting Eagles 3-0 by set scores of 27-25, 25-13 and 25-18 at Belk Arena on Monday evening. The 'Cats move to 7-9 overall and 3-3 in the SoCon with the loss.

Caroline Brown and Hannah Rau hit .361 and .333, respectively, but could not match an Eagles' offense that finished with a team attacking percentage of .283. Brown led the 'Cats with 14 kills and 12 digs, while Rau finished with five kills and an assist. Ariel Ley dished out 25 assists, with Molly Crenshaw adding in two and six digs. Anastasia Owen also had a solid defensive effort with 10 digs and was responsible for two aces. Tindall Sewell was the team's leader in blocks, racking up two solo and two assists, while Ley also had a block and a block assists.

Three of the Eagles finished the match hitting .400 or better. Moriah Bellissimo led the way with 15 kills and eight digs, along with an attacking percentage of .520. Meredith Paskert had 13 kills and four aces, while Kate Van Dyke served up three aces and seven assists, hitting .625 with six kills on the night. The Eagles recorded 8.0 team blocks to the Wildcats' 7.0.

Both squads battled to keep it close through the first set. After the 'Cats took a 7-6 lead, the Eagles scored six straight to go up 12-7. Davidson then hit a 5-1 run, highlighted with an ace by Owen to tie the game at 13-13. The teams traded points the rest of the way, with Sewell tying the game at 25-25 to keep it going. However, back-to-back kills by the Eagles gave them the 27-25 win.

The 'Cats stumbled early in the second set, falling behind 9-3 early on. Kills by freshmen Rau, Morgan Shannon and Michelle McNeight kept the 'Cats in the mix at 13-8, but they would never recover from their early deficit and fell 25-13 in the set and 2-0 in the match.

GSU again took an early lead in the third and final set, scoring seven straight to lead 8-1. Owen served four straight, including an ace to cut the deficit to two, but the Eagles would again take over and take a 12-7 lead on a Bellissimo kill. Though the teams would again trade points, the 'Cats couldn't make the comeback and dropped the set 25-18 to fall 3-0 overall.

Davidson will look to rebound on Friday when they host Elon in a 7 p.m. contest at Belk Arena. The match will mark the 'Cats' Dig Pink event to raise awareness for breast cancer.