Women's Volleyball upended in Friday pair at Union University Classic

JACKSON, Tenn. – The Catawba College women's volleyball team fell twice on the first day of the Union University Classic on Friday, suffering a narrow 3-2 loss to Southwest Baptist in the morning before dropping its afternoon clash against Ouachita Baptist, 3-0.

SOUTHWEST BAPTIST 3, CATAWBA 2

TEAM STATS

- Southwest Baptist (3-2) compiled 63 kills while Catawba (1-3) landed 55, spreading the total across 10 players

- The Bearcats committed 10 fewer errors on attacks, posting a .232 hitting percentage compared to Catawba's .114 mark

- The Catawba Indians were also bested by SBU in assists (63-46), aces (11-7), digs (95-84), and blocks (11-5) despite their two-set lead

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Rachel Gonzales posted a double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs, tacking on three assists to tie her career best

- Kelcie Love tallied 14 kills as she and Gonzales both logged a .125 hitting percentage

- Notching her first career double-double was freshman Sydney McCutcheon on 38 assists and 17 digs

- Lauren Patrick tied her career high of four blocks while adding nine kills

- Defensive anchors Riley Hill and Kary Hales recorded 23 and 16 digs, respectively, making four players in double figures

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

- SBU's Carlee Lill provided the Bearcats with four of its first nine points while the Catawba Indians received their points from various avenues, keeping the set at a tight 9-7

- Catawba miscues allowed the gap to grow to 19-11, but McCutcheon's service and setting brought the blue and white back within three

- Coming out of a timeout, SBU regained footing and got to set point with a couple of Ryan Russell kills

- Catawba flipped the script with big blocks at the net, a Hill ace, and two Gonzales kills to swipe the opening stanza, 26-24

Second Set

- Carrying momentum into the next set, Catawba maintained a slight edge that stemmed from a lengthy period of service for Gonzales featuring two successful swings from Love

- SBU gradually closed in until Patrick blasted back-to-back kills to give the serve to Gonzales again as the Bearcats missed on three consecutive attacks. Love added another kill, making the score 20-16 favoring Catawba

- Errors nearly kept SBU from crawling back, but Katie Pogue set up Ella Rademaker and Sydney McNeill for timely kills to level proceedings to 24-all

- Catawba broke the Bearcats' serve at 25-25 on a Jordan Danielson kill as Gonzales slammed in the dagger

Third Set

- Down two sets to none, SBU began to build a steady lead in the third period

- The advantage vanished on Gonzales and Riannel Arevalo serves as Catawba tied it at 11-11

- In addition to key blocks, McNeill and Rademaker started to take over, finishing a victorious set with four kills each to keep SBU alive

Fourth Set

- The Bearcats showed discipline when playing Catawba attacks, gathering five points via error before an ace brought the lead to 14-4 and forced a timeout

- Catawba made a bid to shrink the deficit using kills by Love and Natalie Rehm

- After assisting on a block with Russell, Chandler Lawrence kept service until the 22-11 mark

- Rademaker and Rory Stanley helped keep Catawba at bay, wrapping up a 25-13 set to reach the fifth period

Fifth Set

- The high-flying SBU offense continued to roll, starting on a 7-1 run

- Gonzales and Patrick elevated for a block and each logged a kill to slim the Bearcat lead to 7-5

- The sides traded blows until a Gonzales kill and ace preceded a Patrick/Love stop that made the score a level 12-12

- SBU chalked up the last three points to complete the comeback

OUACHITA BAPTIST 3, CATAWBA 0

TEAM STATS

- As a unit, Catawba (1-4) had a sub-par match in the hitting department with a percentage of .063 while Ouachita (4-1) finished at .277

- Both of Catawba's blocks were solos compared to the Tigers' count of seven stops

- 33 of Ouachita's 40 kills were assisted as all 30 Catawba kills included helpers

- The Catawba Indians finished slightly behind in the service ace (4-3) and dig (63-57) departments

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Sofia Beard had a breakout match with career highs of six kills and two service aces while hitting .235, the team-best mark

- McCutcheon snared her second double-double of the day with a 22-assist, 14-dig affair to pace Catawba in both categories

- Hales racked up 13 digs and a trio of assists

- Danielson and Lauren Bodell recorded the blue and white's two solo blocks with one apiece

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

- Errors hampered the Tigers' ability to secure a lead initially

- Ouachita and Catawba exchanged side-outs as the Tarheel State club benefitted from kills by Patrick, Love, and Katie Clark

- Catawba's attack was matched by Ouachita whose Haley Fairchild, Emily Adams, and Riley Braziel began to stand out

- Consecutive Fairchild kills helped lift the Tiger edge to 19-12

- Gonzales and McCutcheon connected for a couple of side-outs, but Ouachita came away with a first-set triumph

Second Set

- Catawba opened the second stanza on a 5-1 run that lasted until the service of Braziel and Avery Jauz allowed Ouachita to swipe the lead

- Finding itself down 22-11, Catawba was unrelenting as Clark and Katrina Misra tallied kills and Beard delivered two aces in a row

- Following a service error by Beard, the sophomore made up for it with a kill on the ensuing rally

- Courtney Hanson added a kill and the Tigers forced a Catawba miscue to secure a 25-17 win

Third Set

- Ouachita sped off with the set's first seven points

- Sydney Wattles whacked two kills in a mission to trim the deficit

- Misra and Beard assisted in the comeback effort that ultimately fell short; the sophomore pair had third-set kill counts of four apiece

UP NEXT

Catawba lines up against Arkansas-Monticello at 11 a.m. CT (noon ET) to conclude its weekend stay in the Volunteer State.