| Friday volleyball RESULTS |
Georgia 3, Ole Miss 1
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Florida 3, Kentucky 1
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Arkansas 3, Mississippi State 0
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Auburn 3, Alabama 0
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Tennessee 3, South Carolina 1
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Georgia Defeats Ole Miss, 3-1
ATHENS, Ga. – Senior setter Kathleen Gates posted her fourth double-double of the season and became only the sixth player in school history to eclipse 4,000 career assists as she led the Georgia Bulldogs past the Ole Miss Rebels, 3-1, in front of a Ramsey Student Center crowd of 1,015 on Friday evening.
After Ole Miss took the first set 25-13 behind a .393 set hitting percentage, Georgia flipped the control of the match around by taking the second set 25-15 by limiting the Rebels (5-6, 1-2 SEC) to a -.179 mark. With the momentum on their side out of the break, the Bulldogs (5-8, 1-2 SEC) earned their first Southeastern Conference win of the season by taking sets three and four by identical scores of 25-22.
Gates' fourth double-double leads Georgia this season and was earned with 39 assists and 11 digs. With the 39 assists, Gates raised her career assist total to 4,007, making her just the sixth player in school history to eclipse the 4,000 total. She is now just 16 assists away from the fifth spot all-time at Georgia held by Jill Moore (1988-91) with 4,023.
Overall, the Bulldogs finished the match head of the Rebels in nearly every statistical category by posting 50 kills on a .230 hitting percentage with 46 assists, four aces and 60 digs. Ole Miss finished with 45 kills on a .173 mark with 37 assists, three aces and 44 digs. Both teams finished with 11.0 team blocks.
Joining Gates in the double-double club on Friday, redshirt sophomore Kathleen Luft notched her third of the season with 11 kills and 10 digs. Meanwhile, junior right side hitter Briana Bahr provided a match-best 13 kills on a .375 clip and sophomore libero Allison Summers had a match-best 16 digs. Senior defensive specialist Carla Tietz gave the Bulldogs four players with double-digit digs in the contest finishing with 10.
The top performances from Ole Miss came from Allegra Wells with 10 kills and Morgan Springer with 11 digs.
In the all-time series with Alabama, the Bulldogs lead 21-18 including wins in the last three meetings. Over the last 10 UGA-UA contests, the series is tied 5-5.
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Arkansas Sweeps Mississippi State
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas volleyball swept past Mississippi State (25-14, 25-16, 25-19) Friday evening in front of 1,184 fans at Barnhill Arena. Kelli Stipanovich had a match-high 14 kills while Jasmine Norton and Raymariely Santos each registered a double-double performance in the win. The Razorbacks posted a .385 hitting percentage, their highest in a conference match since 2007.
Stipanovich notched a .407 hitting percentage to go along with her 14 kills. Norton finished the night with 12 kills and 10 digs while Santos tallied 29 assists and 14 digs. Arkansas (10-4, 2-1 SEC) had five players hit over .400 with at least five kills. Defensively, libero Christa Alvarez paced the team’s effort with a match-high 15 digs. KC Dobbins came in off the bench to add 10 digs of her own.
Arkansas jumped out to an early lead in game one. Out of a timeout by Mississippi State (6-6, 1-2 SEC), Roslandy Acosta found the floor to give the Razorbacks a 10-2 advantage. Later in the set, Jasmine Norton and Janeliss Torres-Lopez combined for a block to give the team its first double-digit lead of the match, 15-5. A kill by Norton put Arkansas ahead, 17-6, and forced the second timeout from Bulldogs’ head coach Jenny Hazelwood.
Mississippi State got as close as eight but the Razorbacks extended their lead back to 11 after a kill by Kelli Stipanovich. The team arrived at set point on a kill by Norton, and on the next point, she once again teamed up with Torres-Lopez for a block to give Arkansas the first set, 25-14.
The two teams traded points to open game two. Ahead by one point, the Razorbacks used a four-point surge to gain control of the set and the scoreboard, 12-7. Stipanovich pushed the lead to six with a kill but the Bulldogs pulled back to within four on a kill by Lainey Wyman with Arkansas leading, 17-13.
Consecutive kills by Norton and Stipanovich and a service ace by Amanda Anderson pushed the Razorback lead to eight, 22-14. Torres-Lopez got in on another block, this time teaming with Acosta, to give Arkansas set point. Mississippi State saved the first but on the next play, a Bulldog service error handed the Razorbacks the game, 25-16.
Out of the intermission, the visitors turned the momentum in their favor with a strong start to the third set. Four straight points by the Bulldogs forced Pulliza to use his first timeout of the set. Mississippi State led by as much as six, 12-6, before the Razorbacks steadied for a rally. Trailing by three, Arkansas put together a quick surge to tie the score at 16-all following a service ace by Alvarez.
Norton found the floor with a kill to put the home team ahead, 19-18. It was Arkansas’ first lead of the set. The Razorbacks won the next four points to pad their advantage. The final three points ended in favor of Arkansas, including an ace by Anderson on match point.
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Florida Beats Kentucky
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – With every starting attacker hitting at least .278 or better, the No. 6 Florida volleyball team used one of the best team offensive performances in recent history to defeat the Kentucky Wildcats, 3-1 (25-12, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18), on Friday night at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Led by the senior tandem of outside hitters Stephanie Ferrell (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.), Florida hit .417 as a team against the Wildcats, their best hitting efficiency in a four-set match in over a decade. The Gators also hit .560 in the first set, their highest hitting percentage in a set this season. Ferrell had 11 kills, hitting at a .588 clip, while Jaeckel notched a match-high 15 kills. Junior middle blocker Betsy Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) had a match-high .750 hitting percentage, registering six kills on eight swings with no errors, while AVCA National Player of the Week Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) hit .529 with nine kills and no errors to go along with 19 assists, five digs and three service aces.
On the defensive end, redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe (Muncie, Ind.) had 11 digs and three service aces and freshman defensive specialist Madison Monserez (Orlando, Fla.) registered a career-high nine digs against the Wildcats. Senior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson led Florida’s blocking effort with three blocks on the night.
The Gators took a 2-0 lead over the Wildcats to start the first frame. Kentucky rallied, but a solo block from Anderson sparked a 4-0 run that included a Monserez service ace, giving the Gators a 7-3 advantage. A Smith bullet through the center of the Kentucky defense forced the Wildcats into a timeout at 10-5. A Jaeckel blast into the UK defense drove the Gators on another 4-0 run with Brown behind the service line to bring the Gators to set point. Smith then finished off the frame with a quick dish from Brown in the middle, giving the Gators a 25-12 first set win.
The Wildcats entered the second stanza ready to battle, but Anderson found a gap in the Kentucky defense and gave the Orange and Blue their first two-point lead, 5-3. Kentucky and Florida rallied back-and-forth, until a Wildcat service error drove the Gators on a 6-0 run, giving Florida a 17-12 lead. The Wildcats battled back, forcing the Gators into a timeout at 19-17. Brown set up Jaeckel for a swing through the seam of the block that put the Gators one point away from the set win, and Jaeckel came through for the final point heading into intermission, acing the Wildcats, 25-19.
The third set was a nail biter, as the teams traded points out of intermission, with the Gators taking as much as a 10-6 lead. Kentucky battled back to tie the score at 13-13, forcing Florida into a timeout. The Wildcats went on a quick 4-2 run to break away from the Gators at 19-15. Florida fought back, costing Kentucky a timeout at 24-23. The Gators were unable to return the Wildcats’ Becky Pavan attack forcing a fourth set, 25-23.
The Gators took an early 3-0 lead over the Wildcats to start the fourth frame. An Unroe service ace gave the Orange and Blue their first five-point lead of the set, 8-3, but the Wildcats battled back with a 3-0 run to lessen the gap to 8-6. The teams rallied, but a solo block from Ferrell gave the Gators a 16-12 lead, and a service ace by Murphy widened the gap at 19-14. Florida did not lose momentum, and Jaeckel ended the match with a final blast through the seam of the block, 25-18.
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Tennessee Downs South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Despite dropping a hard-fought first set to South Carolina, the Tennessee Lady Vol volleyball team responded and overcame the challenge by winning the next three sets to defeat the Gamecocks, 28-30, 25-12, 25-15, 28-26, in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 1,086 fans at the Volleyball Competition Facility on Friday evening.
Sophomore Kelsey Robinson continues to be a nightmare for the opposition, recording her eighth double-double and eighth 20-plus kill performance of the season by tallying 22 kills and 12 digs against USC. For the match she had a hitting percentage of .319.
Freshman setter Mary Pollmiller accounted for 53 of Tennessee’s (10-2, 3-0) 59 assists on the night, along with adding three kills of her own. Both junior DeeDee Harrison and sophomore Carly Sahagian hit over .300 on the night, as Harrison had 11 kills and eight blocks, while Sahagian tallied 12 kills and 13 digs to register her fourth double-double of the season.
Ellen Mullins, a sophomore, led the team in digs with 18, while junior Leslie Cikra and freshman Shealyn Kolosky were a force on the defensive side of the net, combining for eight blocks.
The opening set of the match was a back-and-forth battle between the two squads. With the match tied up at four apiece, South Carolina scored the next three points to grab a 7-4 lead. The Big Orange rallied and scored the next five points off of two Robinson kills and three South Carolina miscues to take a 9-7 advantage. UT would extend its lead to three, 12-9 and 15-12 before the Gamecocks made a push.
South Carolina tied the match up at 15 all, followed by both teams trading points all the way up to 20. Tied at 23, South Carolina scored the next point on a UT blocking error for a chance to win the set. Tennessee fought off the match point, something it would do on four occasions, two of which came by way of kills from Sahagian.
Deadlocked at 26-26, a Gamecock error gave the Lady Vols a chance to win the first set, but the ensuing UT serve sailed long to knot the match back up at 27. The score would be tied once more at 28 before South Carolina would win the set, 30-28. In all, the set had 16 ties and six lead changes.
The second frame of the match was dominated by the Orange and White. Following a Robinson kill, USC scored the next three points to take a 3-1 lead, which was their largest lead of the set. UT quickly tied the set back up at three and again at four, before going on a 6-2 run behind two kills from Cikra, a Robinson kill and a serving ace by Mullins to give itself a 10-6 advantage.
The Lady Vols extended the lead to 14-8 after kills by Kolosky, Pollmiller and Robinson, along with a South Carolina attack error. At the 17-12 mark, Tennessee would close the match out by scoring the last eight points to take the second set victory, 25-12. Robinson had three kills and Cikra and Harrison combined for a pair of blocks during that late run.
Set three had the same feel as set two did, as the Lady Vols quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead off of three blocks. Up by three at 7-4, UT rattled off seven straight points with the help of three Robinson kills, a put back, a Sahagian serving ace and a Kolosky kill to go up 14-4. UT pushed its lead to nine at 19-10 off an attack error by the Gamecocks and went on to score the next two to make the score 21-10. A serving error by South Carolina gave the Orange and White the third set, 25-15.
Tennessee had to fight hard to leave South Carolina with a 3-1 victory. In a highly contested set that saw 13 ties, UT jumped out early and held off multiple South Carolina rallies. The Lady Vols and Gamecocks battled back-and-forth until Tennessee took a 6-4 advantage off of a USC attack error.
The Lady Vols would keep a two-point advantage until South Carolina cut the UT lead to 9-8 and eventually tied the match at 11. Robinson, Sahagian and Kolosky all had kills to get UT back up by two, 15-13. The Gamecocks would respond however, tying the match up at 16 and again at 21. The two squads countered one another until the score was all even at 25.
An error on the part of USC gave Tennessee a 26-25 advantage, and the opportunity to win the set and the match. South Carolina didn’t go down without a fight, tying the match up at 26 before Sahagian blasted two kills in a row to conclude the fourth set and the match, 28-26.
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Auburn Sweeps Alabama
AUBURN – The Auburn volleyball team played what Head Coach Rick Nold called their best match of the season, defeating archrival Alabama 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-23) Friday night before a capacity crowd of 1,037 fans at the Student Activities Center.
Auburn (7-6, 1-2 SEC) recorded 50 kills in the match – a season-high in a three-set match – and hit at a .381 clip, the team’s second-best mark of the season, to win their fourth-straight over the Crimson Tide. Alabama (6-7, 0-3 SEC) lost a three-set match for just the first time this season.
Tonight’s attendance of 1,037 was the third-largest crowd for a home match in the 26-year history of Auburn volleyball.
A key component to the Tigers’ win was vast improvement in the service game. Auburn recorded a season-high six service aces and only allowed one by Alabama; in addition, the passing was much improved as the Tide had very few easy scoring chances.
Three Tigers recorded double-digit kills, led by senior Kelly Fidero. She recorded 14 kills on the night, matching her season high for the second straight week; she also had 14 at Tennessee last Sunday. Fidero also hit a season-best .522, charged with just two errors on 23 attacks.
Junior Sarah Bullock recorded her second double-double of the season, putting down 10 kills and registering a season-high 13 digs. Vesela Zapryanova had her second double-digit kills game of the year with 11 on the night, hitting at a .455 clip. Camila Jersonsky and Chelsea Wintzinger both hit .417 on the night with Wintzinger dropping a career-high six kills on 12 attacks. Wintzinger also had a career-high 35 assists while serving up two of the Tigers’ aces; Jersonsky and Bullock also had two apiece.
The first set was very tightly contested with nine ties and a pair of lead changes. However, Auburn was able to maintain a slim lead most of the way despite four service errors in the opening frame. But the Tigers managed to jump to a 15-11 lead before Alabama closed the gap to one point at 19-18. Back-to-back service errors kept things close, and Alabama finally took the lead at 22-21 off a kill from Kayla Fitterer, forcing an Auburn timeout. From there, a kill from Bullock and two from Fidero would put the Tide away, giving Auburn a 25-22 first-set win; Auburn hit a stellar .424 in the frame while Alabama was equally impressive at .391.
Auburn stormed to a 4-0 lead in the second set and never looked back en route to a 25-13 win. Alabama would get as close as 7-6, but the Tigers would roll off a 9-1 run to take a 16-7 lead. The Tide would be no closer than eight points the rest of the way as six kills from Zapryanova and four each from Fidero and Bullock led the way. Bullock also had a pair of service aces in the set, along with one each from Wintzinger and Jersonsky.
Set number three was mostly controlled by the Tigers as they took a 25-23 win, but they had to fight hard to pull it out. The Tigers led by as many as four at 13-9, but Alabama’s Fitterer almost single-handedly willed the Tide back into the set with seven kills; as such, the Tide took a 21-19 lead and forced a Tiger timeout. A kill from Jersonsky would pull things even at 22-22, but the lead would go right back to Alabama on a service error. Jersonsky, though, would come up big again, with two straight kills to give Auburn match point at 24-23, forcing Alabama to call its final timeout. The Buenos Aires native would make it three in a row with another kill as she scored Auburn’s last four points to close out the match.