SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba women's volleyball team hosted South Atlantic Conference (SAC) foe Emory & Henry on Tuesday night at Goodman Arena. The Catawba Indians put together a strong team performance to sweep the Wasps 3-0, improving to 5-1 on the season.
Lillie Kate Rogers excelled all-around with 15 kills on a .406 hitting percentage, seven digs, two service aces and a block assist.
Maggie Ayers was ultra-efficient, delivering 11 kills on a tremendous .579 percentage.
Camden Bizot set the table for the two outside hitters, reaching the 30 assists mark for the fourth time this season. Defensively,
Riley Hill and
Lauren Patrick stood tall. Hill notched 20 digs while Patrick had a hand in three blocks.
Catawba (5-1, 1-1 SAC) attacked at a productive .313 rate as a team while holding Emory & Henry (0-5, 0-1 SAC) to just a .074 hitting percentage. The blue and white were more precise as a team, tying a season-low 10 errors in the match while the Wasps committed 21.
Catawba came out of the gate firing on all cylinders to gain an early 15-2 first-set lead behind three kills from Rogers and two from
Rebekah Ayers. The blue and white wouldn't look back, capitalizing on three straight Wasps' attack errors to take the first stanza, 25-9.
Emory & Henry looked to fight back by taking an early 6-2 lead in the second frame.
Madi McIlwain ignited a Catawba rally with a kill assisted by Bizot. Rogers would add three kills and an ace to put the blue and white back on top, 16-8. The Wasps stung back to cut the Catawba advantage to 21-20. After an Emory & Henry attack error, Rogers took advantage by delivering an ace, followed by two
Maggie Ayers kills to claim the second set, 25-21.
Rogers and
Maggie Ayers took over the match in the final set, boosting the Catawba Indians to an 18-10 lead. However, the Wasps would make it interesting by cutting the margin to 22-20. After
Maggie Ayers delivered a kill and Emory & Henry made an error,
Maggie Ayers and Patrick would slam the door with an emphatic block to win the third set, 25-20.
The Catawba Indians will begin an important SAC road trip this weekend, starting on Friday night when they head to Tusculum at 6 p.m. before traveling to Mars Hill on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Hear from head coach Brenn Ferguson and freshman outside hitter Maggie Ayers after the match:
