Women's Volleyball takes first set, comes up short vs. LMU

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College women's volleyball won the first set but dropped the next three, falling short of a second South Atlantic Conference victory against Lincoln Memorial at Goodman Arena on Friday night.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba (2-10, 1-5 SAC) had its third-best night of the year hitting-wise at .158 while Lincoln Memorial (11-4, 5-3 SAC), after hitting .061 in the opening set, finished strong with a percentage of .266

- LMU had superior marks in setting (.373-.292) and receiving (.959-.914), but the Catawba Indians' .892 serve percentage was higher than the visitors' .844

- Each team recorded seven blocks, tying Catawba's season high set last Friday at Coker

- The Railsplitters snapped a four-match skid in the series, taking their first match since 2019

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Kelcie Love collected double-figure kills for the first time in eight contests, adding 10 on 28 swings with a .143 hitting percentage

- Jordan Danielson and Lillie Kate Rogers also had big nights on the outside with nine and eight kills, respectively

- Haley Moffett handed out 20 assists followed by Sydney McCutcheon who logged 16 dimes

- Digging out a team-high 16 attacks was Riley Hill as fellow Salisbury native Kary Hales chipped in 14

- Danielson, Katie Clark, and Sydney Wattles went up for three block assists apiece while Love had the squad's lone solo stop

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

- LMU maintained an advantage early on, taking an 8-3 lead following four Catawba errors in a row

- Shortly after the home team called its first timeout, momentum tipped into Catawba's favor as Love, Rogers, and Clark recorded kills in a comeback effort before a pair of miscues by the Splitters made it 13-all

- Consecutive points tallied by Agata Bogdanska gave LMU a three-point gap with three until 25, but Danielson broke the Splitters' serve with a kill assisted by Moffett

- Through two LMU timeouts, McCutcheon remained steady on service as Rogers found paydirt twice to seal a 25-22 set

Second Set

- Bogdanska blasted a kill for the opening point but Catawba's blocking helped push the hosts ahead 4-1

- Rogers and Love terminated back-to-back rallies before Wattles and Lauren Bodell combined for a block and Rogers blew an ace past the Splitters, forcing a timeout

- Once LMU regrouped and evened the score, Kristen Moehring collected a kill and an ace in a time of service that created an 18-14 edge

- Josibeth Capellan kicked her game into a higher gear with five kills in the latter half of the stanza, delivering the finishing point in a 25-23 period

Third Set

- Danielson and Rogers both had a pair of kills as the set began to take shape, the last making the score 6-4 Catawba

- The Splitters charged back when they chalked up five straight points featuring two kills by Abigail Kesler

- Bedel and Bogdanska also began to find success on their swings, contributing to the 19-11 lead LMU cultivated

- Lauren Patrick hammered home a couple of darts late, rivaled by Moehring's trio of punishing kills that locked up set No. 2, 25-17

Fourth Set

- Down two sets to one, Catawba had a favorable start to the fourth frame at 4-1 but the advantage slipped away as Moehring brought the count back to a level 5-5

- A variety of hitters aided the LMU surge into toward the lead, but three kills by Love cued that the blue and white refused to back down

- The visitors capitalized on Catawba gaffes and leveraged the refined attacking of Capellan, Kesler, and Bedel to widen the gap to seven

- Bedel and Pickett elevated for a stop to reach match point as Moehring supplied the deciding kill, ending the set at 25-17 to wrap up a 3-1 win for LMU

UP NEXT

The Catawba Indians have a quick turnaround, hosting Charleston tomorrow at 3 p.m.