SALISBURY, N.C. — The Catawba College women's volleyball team refused to be shut out with a third-set triumph, but dropped the fourth in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday afternoon.
TEAM STATS
- The Bears (22-4, 13-3 SAC) hit a firm .242 while Catawba (4-19, 2-14 SAC) had a sub-zero tally early, but improved to .022 using a strong third-set mark of .158
- Catawba held an 11-10 advantage in the blocking game as well as a 56-52 edge for digs
- In service, the Catawba Indians were more accurate with a .914 percentage compared to Lenoir-Rhyne's .897 despite the Bears' 10-5 advantage in aces
- The setting and receiving percentages favored LR as the Bears had .341-.239 and .922-.885 edges in the respective statistics
INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Sydney Wattles transformed nine of her 18 attacks into kills to lead the offense followed by Lauren Bodell and Sofia Beard at eight and seven kills, respectively
- Riley Hill tacked on 21 digs to go with three service aces and six assists
- Wattles paced the Catawba blocking corps at seven stops as Bodell recorded five; each logged a solo denial
- In addition to her 23 assists, Haley Moffett tallied career highs of five kills and three blocks
- Avery Fleshood was errorless in 16 receptions while adding seven digs
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- After being knotted at the start, the Bears jumped out to a 10-3 lead thanks to a six-point run that spurred a Catawba timeout
- Wattles killed to immediately get a side-out, but Katie Clark and LR's Brooke Aeschliman went head-to-head with two kills apiece to keep the margin mostly unchanged
- Self-inflicted harm by the Catawba Indians hindered them from cutting into the gap
- Jenna Vogen dropped in an ace to lock up the set for the visitors, 25-15
Second Set
- Bodell and Wattles got kills in the early going as the latter's solo block made it 3-1
- Behind a trio of Vogen strikes, the Bears danced out to a 16-5 lead that Moffett snapped with her second kill
- Two kills and a block from Kayli Cleaver helped keep Catawba subdued as LR recorded a set-two 25-8 final
Third Set
- Hill and Hadley Prince traded aces to open a highly-contested set before Wattles delivered a pair of unassisted darts
- At the net, Kathy Peter's two solo blocks were met by Bodell's participation in four blocks within an 11-rally span
- Wattles ripped back-to-back kills to manufacture a 16-13 edge for Catawba
- Cleaver played a large role in getting the Bears to even the score at 23-23, but Moffett and Wattles – with her six kill of the set – finished it off
Fourth Set
- LR dashed to a 6-2 advantage, receiving five points via Catawba attack errors
- Kary Hales notched her second kill of the year as the blue and white erased the gap, hopping into the lead when Kelcie Love struck on consecutive sets
- Kills by Beard and Bodell paired with two Wattles-Moffett blocks allowed Catawba to keep up with the LR cavalry, tying it up when Love and Clark joined forces for a stop at 19-all
- Cleaver and Peter killed off rallies to reach match point, setting up Prince to end the contest on her sixth ace of the day
UP NEXT
Catawba continues its season-ending homestand on Tuesday, Nov. 12 against Newberry at 6 p.m.
