SALISBURY, N.C. — The Catawba College women's volleyball team romped to its third South Atlantic Conference victory on Friday night, routing Mars Hill in a 3-0 sweep at Goodman Arena.
TEAM STATS
- Catawba (6-8, 3-6 SAC) drilled 47 kills to record season highs of 15.67 kills per set and a .276 hitting percentage; Mars Hill (7-7, 4-5 SAC) was restricted to a .155 hitting clip
- The Lions led the match in service aces 5-4; oppositely, MHU committed one more service error by a 5-4 margin
- The squads were even in the blocking game at four stops apiece as Catawba had two solo denials while all of MHU's were assisted
- Catawba stacked 64 digs compared to the Lions' 56
INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Lillie Kate Rogers wreaked havoc on the Lions with 15 kills and career highs of three service aces and 18 digs
- Sofia Beard nearly cracked double-figure kills with nine tallies to go with a block and two digs
- Martina Foster registered six kills on 12 attempts for a .500 day offensively while adding a team-high three blocks
- Jordan Duzenack blasted seven kills on 11 swings and also had no errors for a potent .636 hitting percentage
- Haley Moffett distributed 27 assists as Tamie Boudot dealt out 15 helpers; the pair combined for eight digs
- Riley Hill amassed 20 digs for her second-highest per-set average of the season (6.67)
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- Catawba felt the match's first inkling of momentum after a 7-7 tie was broken with four straight points in the blue and white's favor
- The Lions recovered, evidenced by a 10-2 run that featured a pair of later strikes from Selma Vassdal
- The Catawba Indians tracked down the visitors, benefitting from self-inflicted errors and a surprise Boudot kill to even the score at 19-19
- Tied again at 21-all, Rogers found pay dirt with a kill and served back-to-back aces to set up Annica Kagle for the knockout blow, finalizing the opening frame at 25-21
Second Set
- Following six rallies with an even score, Catawba enjoyed another four-point swing marked by two blasts by Duzenack
- Vassdal and Angel Jimenez helped Mars Hill shrink the gap to 8-7, but the hosts restored their four-point edge in swift order
- The Catawba Indians' hitters were grooving from the middles to the pins, lifting the lead to 20-13
- Despite consecutive points from the Lions, the Catawba Indians left no doubt with a 5-0 run to close out the set in 25-15 fashion
Third Set
- Sydney Wattles tacked on a kill in her second rally of the match for a 2-0 start to the third stanza
- The Lions kept pace with Catawba and eventually pulled ahead 10-7 behind a couple of attack errors, the second caused by a block from Skylar Ogden and Brooke Hoffman
- Back-to-back Ioana Poenaru service aces later in the frame allowed MHU's lead to grow to four
- Rogers provided two kills and an ace to complement a solo block by Kagle, erasing the deficit at 21-21
- A Kagle-Foster block and a Beard blast helped Catawba slip ahead to reach set point; after a Lion point, Beard killed the ensuing rally to secure the sweep
NOTES
- Rogers set career highs in digs — beating her previous high by five — and aces with a career-best five kills per set
- The double-double is Rogers' second of the year following her 11-kill, 12-dig outing in the season opener
- Duzenack is the first Catawba Indian to hit over .600 with 10 or more kills since Lauren Patrick did so in 2023
- Catawba's three SAC sweeps are the most in a season since 2022
- The Catawba Indians recorded their first win of the season when wearing gray jerseys
HEAR FROM COACH FERGUSON
On Catawba's third SAC sweep…
"What a great time to get it. I think it would've been really easy for us as a group to roll over after those two hard matches that we had. The week of October 16th is hard every year, day in and day out there's competition. The girls just showed up, and showed up well."
On having multiple players step up…
"The depth showed up big tonight and I also think that we had depth at yes, multiple positions, but they had depth at their own positions, too. It was really cool to see Lillie Kate (Rogers) come up with a double-double, to see Riley (Hill) dish a couple assists and get the digs. No one was one-dimensional tonight and that was really important for us."
On the performance of Jordan Duzenack…
"(Duzenack) plays on the left and the right for us … a recent plug to the right. I think what she does is adds some stability and confidence that when we're high ball out of system, which we are gonna be when we make digs like that all the time and we're keeping the ball off the floor, that wherever we put it, she's gonna be able to get a good look on it. She's just a very creative hitter. She has really good vision and she was free, I think, without some of the other responsibilities that outside hitters have with passing. She was just able to go out and let loose, and that was joy personified if I've ever seen it."
HEAR FROM LILLIE KATE ROGERS
On the win despite coming off two losses…
"I think it shows how hard we've worked in the last two practices, how much we've really wanted this, and how much determination we have as a team. I think it's really important going into a big game tomorrow with Tusculum. We traveled there – long travel day – (and) didn't perform as we wanted, so I think it's really good momentum going into tomorrow."
On Riley Hill's importance to the team…
"I think she's like our soul (of the) back row. She has a really strong voice, and she's just very confident with what's hers and what's ours. She's a really good leader in the back row."
UP NEXT
The Catawba Indians are back at Goodman Arena tomorrow (Oct. 18) for a 3 p.m. matchup with Tusculum.
