Bucs down Terriers in four; ETSU hosts Samford Saturday for Senior Day

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (Nov. 7, 2014) – The ETSU volleyball team completed the season sweep over Wofford as the Bucs defeated the Terriers in four sets (25-21, 23-25, 28-26, 25-19) on Friday night inside Benjamin Johnson Arena.

Six different Buccaneers posted at least five kills, while Kristen Favre (Plano, Texas) quarterbacked ETSU’s offense as sophomore setter finished with 28 assists, five digs and three service aces. Senior Meredith Hardy (Kingsport, Tenn.) finished with a team-high 12 kills and added five blocks, while freshman Rylee Milhorn (Kingsport, Tenn.) added five kills, five blocks and 10 digs for the Buccaneers. Senior Bethany Gesell (High Point, N.C.) totaled nine kills and sophomore Briana Allmon (Flower Mound, Texas) and Ivey Rice (Johnson City, Tenn.) both compiled eight of their own. Junior Khadijah Wiley (Columbus, Ga.) also totaled six kills and four blocks, while senior Katie Muey (Alexandria, Ind.) led all players with 26 digs.

Despite Wofford being plus-6 in kills (56-50), plus-8 in assists (52-44), and plus-16 in digs (75-59), ETSU managed the Terriers to hit into 13 more attack errors (32-19) and the Bucs outhit Wofford, .196-.144.

With the win, ETSU completed the season sweep of the Terriers and the Bucs improved to 14-15, 8-5 after securing their third straight win. Wofford dropped to 12-18, 4-9.

Both teams split the first two sets, but the Blue and Gold won the final two sets to earn the road win.

ETSU got off to a slow start in the opener, but after losing five of the first seven points, the Bucs rallied to take a lead midway through en route to winning the set, 25-21. The Terriers lead 5-2 early on, but the Blue and Gold used a run to open a two-point lead, 17-15, when Favre found Hardy for the kill. Wofford managed to pull even at 17-all, but ETSU won eight of the final 12 points to secure the four-point win.

Following the win in the opener, ETSU couldn’t grab further momentum as Wofford evened the match with 25-23 victory. The Bucs got off to a strong start by winning 10 of the first 16 points, but the Terriers mounted a 10-1 run to gain a 16-11 lead, forcing the Blue and Gold to burn a timeout. Despite going ahead 19-18 on a service ace by Renzey Rice (Johnson City, Tenn.), ETSU couldn’t build on its lead as Wofford rallied for the win.

However, after trailing for the majority of the third set, the Bucs continued to battle and pulled out 28-26 win to gain a 2-1 lead in the match. The Terriers stormed out to an eight-point lead in the frame, 12-4, but ETSU mounted a 13-6 run to inch within a point when another kill by Hardy made it an 18-17 score. From there Wofford went ahead by three, 20-17, but after dodging set point at 24-23, 25-24, and 26-25, the Bucs rallied by winning the final three points to gain the comeback win. Gesell, Hardy and Milhorn all collected kills during the final stretch run to earn the critical third-set victory.

After rallying for the come-from-behind win in set three, ETSU got off to a strong start in the fourth and cruised to a match-clinching six-point win, 25-19. The Bucs won six of the first eight points of the frame – and after Wofford fought back to tie things at 12 – ETSU closes the match on a 13-7 run to register the four-set road win. Rice led the Blue and Gold with four kills in the stanza, while Gesell (three kills) and Wiley (two kills) also committed zero attack errors in the final set. As a team, the Bucs outhit Wofford, .323-.083 in the fourth.

The Terriers had three players record double-digit kills as Taylor Baird finished with a match-high 18, while Bella Santoro (11 kills/10 digs) and Molly Mayo (46 assists/12 digs) posted double-doubles in the losing effort.

The Bucs return home Saturday to host Samford at 3 p.m. for Senior Day.

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