Carson-Newman, Wingate Advance In NCAA Volleyball Tournament

WINGATE, N.C. -- The number 24 Wingate University volleyball team opened the 2009 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional with a 3-0 victory over Tusculum College Friday night in Cuddy Arena. The number one seed Bulldogs won with set scores of 25-13, 25-12 and 25-13.

With the victory, Wingate improves to 35-1 overall. The Bulldogs will face Carson-Newman College Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the regional semi-finals. Tusculum concludes its season 18-15 overall. Wingate has now won 23 consecutive matches. The Bulldogs advance to the regional semi-finals for the second straight year.

"We are happy to be moving on to Saturday," head coach Shelton Collier says. Our team realizes we will need to play significantly better to win tomorrow. We had a great crowd and a great environment. We are excited about the chance to get to the finals here and possibly advance to the Elite Eight."

Junior middle blocker Stormi Gale (Richmond, Texas) led the Wingate attack with 14 kills to go along with seven digs and four blocks. Junior outside hitter Lauren Billo (Orland Park, Ill.) added eight kills, while sophomore outside hitter Janice Ehorn (Orange, Conn.) contributed five kills. Junior setter Amanda Clark (Timberlake, N.C.) handed out 17 assists, while sophomore libero Maggie Malone (Chicago, Ill.) collected 20 digs.

Freshman outside hitter Bailee Price (Fort Wayne, Ind.) led the Pioneers with six kills. Senior outside hitter Holli Cadenhead (Van Vleck, Texas) added four kills. Senior setter Gina Coffaro (Cincinnati, Ohio) notched nine assists and 10 digs, while freshman outside hitter Sam Underwood (Muncie, Ind.) led Tusculum with 13 digs.

An ace from senior defensive specialist Brittany Horner (Roxboro, N.C.) put Wingate on top 14-9 in the first set. Three consecutive kills from Billo gave the Bulldogs a 22-11 lead. The advantage would remain in double figures the rest of the way, with freshman middle blocker Grace Krauser (Louisville, Ky.) capping the set with a kill.

A pair of blocks from Krauser gave the Bulldogs a 12-5 lead in the second set. The Pioneers cut it to six on a pair of Wingate errors. The Bulldogs answered with five straight points to take a 17-7 lead. Freshman outside hitter Katie Handy (Palos Verdes, Calif.) had a kill and a block in the run, while Billo capped the flurry with an ace.

Kills from Gale and Clark, along with a block from Gale and senior middle blocker Megan McVicker (Mercer, Pa.) made it 23-10. The Bulldogs completed the second set with kills from Gale and Billo.

Wingate reeled off six consecutive points to take a 17-10 lead in the third set. Tusculum had four errors in the spurt, while Krauser finished it with an ace. A 4-0 Wingate run made it 21-11, as Ehorn completed the run with a kill. The Bulldogs finished the match on a kill from Billo, followed by an ace from Gale.

The Bulldogs hit .183 for the match, with 37 kills against 16 errors in 115 attacks. The Pioneers had 17 kills against 21 errors for a hitting percentage of negative .037. Wingate had 10 aces, led by Horner with four.

The Bulldogs will face Carson-Newman College at 7 p.m. in the second semi-final match of the day on Saturday. Wingate and Carson-Newman have met three times this year, with the Bulldogs winning all three meetings. The last time the teams met, Wingate won 3-1 in the Food Lion SAC Championship match Sunday.

Carson-Newman 3, Catawba 2

WINGATE, N.C. -- Carson-Newman College won a suspenseful fifth set to take a 3-2 victory over Catawba College in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional volleyball tournament Friday night, hosted by Wingate University in Cuddy Arena. Carson-Newman won 11-25, 25-23, 25-20, 22-25, 19-17 in a two hour-plus match.

With the victory, Carson-Newman improves to 23-9 overall. The Eagles will face the Wingate-Tusculum winner Saturday night at 7 p.m. Catawba concludes the 2009 campaign 17-12 overall.

Carson-Newman senior outside hitter Jessica Schachleiter (Cincinnati, Ohio) had 19 kills and 17 digs for the Eagles. Junior outside hitter Carly Mozgai (Plain City, Ohio) posted 14 kills, while senior middle blocker Jessica Brady (Fruitland Park, Fla.) collected 12 kills.

Eagle senior setter Stephanie Cutter (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) had monster double-double with 31 assists and 25 digs. Freshman setter Lara McDonald (Salem, Va.) had 21 assists, while classmate Angelle Hayes (Brentwood, Tenn.) collected 23 digs from her libero position.

Catawba freshman setter Jordan Raye (Boonville, N.C.) had a triple-double with 48 assists, 19 digs and 10 kills. Freshman outside hitter Kaitlyn Whitmer (Ferrum, Va.) topped the offensive charts with a match-high 22 kills. Whitmer added 21 digs. Catawba sophomore outside hitter Shay Meeks (Kings Mountain, N.C.) contributed 16 kills.

Indian senior libero Mai Zoua Lo (Hickory, N.C.) collected a match-high 35 digs. Zoua Lo and senior middle blocker Jasmine Chunn (East Bend, N.C.) played their last match for head coach Ginger Hamric Friday night. Chunn had eight kills.

The deciding fifth set was tied 10 times. Meeks tied the frame for the last time with a kill, making the score 17-17. Kills by Brady and Schachleiter gave the Eagles the hard-fought victory.

Catawba worked hard in the fourth set, leading from (almost) start to finish to send the contest to a deciding fifth set. The Indians turned a 6-6 tie into a 10-6 lead on a service ace by Parrish. Carson-Newman tied the set at 16-16, thanks to a Catawba error. Back-to-back Brady kills put the Eagles up 19-17.

Parrish helped Catawba take the fourth set, as she served four straight points to give the Indians a 22-19 advantage. Moran and Meeks recorded kills in the 4-0 run. Catawba finished the frame with a kill by Raye.

In the third set, Carson-Newman took the lead for good at 3-2 on a service ace by Hayes. Schachleiter's kill put the Eagles up 12-7. Catawba cut the margin to 19-18, thanks to a kill by Raye. Schachleiter added two more kills down the stretch as Carson-Newman pulled away for the 25-20 victory. The set ended on a Catawba attack error.

A Schachleiter kill put Carson-Newman up 4-1 in the second set. The Eagles kept the advantage until late in the set, when Catawba took an 18-17 edge on a C-N error. The Eagles answered with four straight points, capped by a Cutter ace to make the score 21-18 Carson-Newman.

The Indians would not rest, as Catawba tied the second frame at 23-23 on a kill by junior middle blocker Katie Moran (Northville, Mich.) and a Carson-Newman error. A Cutter kill made it 24-23. The Eagles sealed the deal thanks to a Catawba error.

Catawba did not trail in the opening stanza. Back-to-back kills by sophomore middle blocker Taylor Doss (Boonville, N.C.) gave the Indians a 12-3 advantage. A Meeks kill put Catawba up 20-9. Consecutive kills by Whitmer and a Moran kill finished the set 25-11 for Catawba. The Indians hit .516 in the first set with 18 kills, two errors and 31 total attacks.

Armstrong Atlantic State 3, Lincoln Memorial University 0

WINGATE, N.C. -- The defending NCAA Division II Southeast Region champion Armstrong Atlantic State University Pirates began their title defense in impressive fashion, sweeping the Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial University 3-0 in quarterfinal action Friday afternoon in Cuddy Arena. The third-seeded Pirates won by scores of 25-12, 25-17 and 25-22 to improve to 27-9 on the year. AASU advances to the semifinals Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. The sixth-seeded Railsplitters finish the season 22-10 overall.

Freshman middle hitter Kathrin Strandhardinger (Munich, Germany) led the Pirates with 12 kills and four blocks, while hitting .611. Senior outside hitter Marina Marinova (Sofia, Bulgaria) added 10 kills and 11 digs, while senior middle hitter Michele Remlinger (Kalida, Ohio) chipped in with nine kills and a .333 hitting percentage.

AASU freshman setter Kristin Strandhardinger (Munich, Germany) handed out 40 assists to go with 15 digs and three blocks. Sophomore libero Casey Howett (Brooks, Ga.) racked up a match-high 21 digs for the Pirates.

Junior middle blocker Kodi Cartwright (Layton, Utah) led the LMU attack with seven kills and six blocks. Senior middle blocker Alison Hess (Dayton, Ohio) added five kills for the Railsplitters. Junior outside hitter Lauren Kiwacka (Tipp City, Ohio) had 14 assists, nine digs and four kills, while senior libero Alicia MacIntyre (Muncie, Ind.) collected 14 digs.

The Pirates used an impressive 9-0 run to jump out to an 18-6 lead in the first set. Kathrin Strandhardinger fueled the spurt with three kills. A kill from sophomore outside hitter Torrie Bevolo (St. Louis, Mo.) made it 21-8. The advantage would not go below 12 the rest of the way, with Marinova capping the frame with a kill. The Pirates hit .250 in the opening set, while LMU hit negative .065.

An ace from Marinova gave the Pirates a 13-10 lead in the second set. A kill from Cartwright cut the deficit to 14-13. AASU responded by scoring five of the next six points to take a 19-14 lead, capped by a Marinova kill. The Pirates extended the lead to seven at 23-16 on another Marinova kill. Junior outside hitter Brendyce Budd (Page, Ariz.) finished the set with a kill.

The third set would be tightly contested, with nine ties and two lead changes. Armstrong Atlantic State used a 4-0 run to take a 16-12 lead, thanks to a kill and a block from Kathrin Strandhardinger. Back-to-back blocks from the Strandhardinger sisters pushed the AASU lead to 19-13. The Railsplitters responded with a 5-0 run to cut the advantage to one at 19-18. Hess and Kiwacka got the spurt started with a block, while freshman defensive specialist Kristen Cantrell (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) capped it with an ace.

The Pirates took a 22-19 lead on a Marinova kill. Cartwright answered with a kill and a block to again cut the deficit to one at 22-21. With a 23-22 lead, the Pirates got a kill from Remlinger to make it 24-22. An LMU error finished the match.

AASU hit .220 for the match, collecting 44 kills against 18 errors in 118 attacks. The Railsplitters had 24 kills against 23 errors for a .008 hitting percentage.

The Pirates advance to Saturday's regional semi-final contest. AASU will take on Flagler, which defeated Lees-McRae, 3-2. Match time Saturday is slated for 4:30 p.m.