Thursday, September 30, 2004

DAVIDSON, N.C. (Sept. 30, 2004) - After dropping the first two games of the match, the Davidson volleyball squad clawed its way back for a 3-2 (28-30, 27-30, 30-28, 30-22, 15-9) victory over East Tennessee State Thursday evening in Belk Arena. The win was the second in a row for the Wildcats (5-13, 2-1 SoCon) and fifth in the last six meetings with ETSU (2-11, 1-2).

Plagued by 13 service errors compared to just nine by the ‘Cats, ETSU continued to struggle from the service stripe.  Davidson found itself trailing East Tennessee State throughout the majority of the first three games. The Bucs managed to take the opening two games behind nine kills from Jennifer Sartor (Toronto, Canada) and were ahead 18-14 in the third game when the Wildcats slowly began to turn the match around.

Thanks to a couple of kills by sophomore Liz Williamson and another by junior Erin Balak, Davidson leveled game three at 19-all. The two teams fought back and forth for the remainder of the game with six more ties until the score reached 28-all. Back-to-back kills by Balak then gave the Cats a 30-28 win and forced a fourth game.

An 8-1 run in the middle of game four by the host Wildcats helped Davidson cruise to a 30-22 victory. In the decisive fifth game, the ‘Cats registered 11 kills on a .435 attack percentage while holding ETSU to only five putaways to claim the game and match, 15-9.  Williamson posted a career-best 25 kills and hit .365 in the victory.  Freshman Katie Pierucci chipped in with 18 putaways. Meanwhile, sophomore setter Jenna Dykstra notched her first triple-double of the year and fourth of her career with 12 kills, 20 digs and 57 assists.

For East Tennessee State, Sartor recorded a team-high 18 kills to go along with 19 digs and five blocks. Sara Scandiffio (Purcellville, Va.) added 14 putaways while hitting .314 while sophomore setter Brittany Kessel (Libertyville, Ill.) added 60 assists with six kills and nine digs for the match. 

The Bucs return home this weekend, Oct. 3^rd to host the Georgia Southern Eagles.  Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. in Brooks Gymnasium.