SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College women's volleyball team was outlasted in a five-set match against Tusculum, 3-2, in South Atlantic Conference action on Tuesday night at Goodman Arena.
TEAM STATS
- The Catawba (3-15, 1-10 SAC) offense improved its hitting percentage to .128, a better mark than the previous four matches, compared to Tusculum (9-12, 7-6 SAC) who hit .166
- Each team managed 58 kills as Catawba led the Pioneers 56-53 in assisted strikes
- Plagued by errant serves, Tusculum posted an .887 service percentage while the hosts finished with a strong .951
- The Pioneers retained a slight advantage in receiving by a .949-.926 margin
- Both sides had 11 stops at the net but Tusculum committed nine block errors against Catawba's five
INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Kelcie Love ripped a season-high 17 kills with a .208 hitting percentage while Lauren Bodell tallied 13 kills with four block assists, generating 15 points
- Sofia Beard set a new career high in kills for the second consecutive match, killing 12 rallies
- Sydney Wattles had an impeccable night as a dual threat, recording six blocks including two solos along with nine kills on a team-best .400 success rate
- Catawba's offense churned through the setting of Haley Moffett as the junior tallied a career-high 48 assists
- Riley Hill led the defense with 25 digs, also chipping in five helpers
- Rachel Gonzales logged 18 digs as the lone Catawba Indian with more than one service ace
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- Kills by Katie Clark and Beard started the match, but Tusculum matched and overtook Catawba in a 6-1 run
- Amiranee Au keyed a streak of Pioneer points with a service period containing two aces, helping increase the lead to 14-7 when Catawba called its first timeout
- Bodell and Love began to catch fire on the outside as Wattles slammed home two tallies on the inside to pull within two
- Addison McLarty and Madison Adkins finished off the set for Tusculum, ending it with an Adkins dump shot
Second Set
- The second stanza opened with a drag race featuring Beard and a host of hitters rivaling McLarty and McKayla Willey, keeping the score consistently knotted up to 7-7
- Tusculum went on a four-point slide including two Willey kills and a Martina Foster ace, but a quick run with two Beard strikes erased the deficit to make it 12-all
- The tide turned when Catawba began to dominate in the blocking game as Love, Wattles, Clark, and Bodell all had a hand in pivotal stops
- The blue and white reached set point at 24-21, surrendering two points before Bodell provided the deciding bullseye
Third Set
- A neck-and-neck start saw neither squad take more than a two-point lead until Tusculum chalked up five straight points after 8-8
- Gonzales digs and Love kills allowed Catawba to stay in the set, cutting the gap to 19-18
- Back-to-back aces around a Catawba Indian timeout plus an attack error gave the Pioneers another five-tally run
- Three consecutive miscues saw Tusculum nearly squander its edge but Foster killed off the Catawba charge
Fourth Set
- Following a 5-1 start for the Pioneers, Beard and Moffett logged kills and Riannel Arevalo collected an ace, preceding two Pioneer errors that flipped the score to 6-5 Catawba
- Love and Bodell continued to shine on offense as a Bodell-Wattles block stretched the blue and white lead to 18-12
- A late timeout to regroup paid off for Catawba, setting up Love to tack on three kills to force a fifth set
Fifth Set
- A stanza-opening dart from Bodell was offset by a Foster block, then Beard came through with back-to-back spikes
- Catawba errors and well-placed Tusculum attacks put the visitors in front as the blue and white opted for a timeout at 9-6
- Foster powered two kills in as many rallies, keeping service with the Pioneers until a service error broke it up
- Needing seven straight tallies to tie, Clark got the first before Foster blasted the game-winning kill to finalize a 3-2 victory for the Pioneers
UP NEXT
The Catawba Indians travel to Hickory, N.C. on Friday, Nov. 1 to meet Lenoir-Rhyne for a 6 p.m. start.
