Women's Volleyball falls to Lenoir-Rhyne despite third-set push

HICKORY, N.C. – The Catawba College women's volleyball team was turned away by Lenoir-Rhyne, 3-0, in South Atlantic Conference play at Shuford Memorial Arena on Friday night.

TEAM STATS

- Lenoir-Rhyne (21-3, 10-2 SAC) had its second-best hitting night of the year at .303, overshadowing the .125 outing recorded by Catawba (3-16, 1-11 SAC)

- The blue and white led the blocking category 3-2 as well as both service (.949-.921) and reception (.914-.893) percentage

- Each side totaled six service aces and 57 digs

- The Bears capitalized on their sets more often, turning 36.5 percent of sets to assists versus Catawba's mark of 29.8

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Lauren Bodell notched a double-digit kill total for the third time in four matches, hammering 12 with a .207 hitting percentage

- Kelcie Love mashed eight kills as Sofia Beard and Lillie Kate Rogers each tallied five

- Haley Moffett dished out 27 assists as she and Riannel Arevalo delivered two service aces apiece

- Accounting for two of the Catawba Indians' three blocks, Katie Clark made a solo stop and chipped in one block assist

- Riley Hill dug out 22 Bear attacks while Moffett also broke into double figures with 10

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

- After Love chalked up the match's first point, LR raced out to a 5-1 lead

- The Bears kept a consistent gap thanks to the attacking of Kayli Cleaver, stretching it to 12-5 when Catawba called timeout

- The visitors came out of the break with three straight points including back-to-back Love kills, but LR bounced back to take another seven-point edge

- Bodell and Sydney Wattles teamed up for a block to get a side-out as Bodell tacked on three kills down the stretch, but the Bears refused to go away and secured the initial stanza, 25-18

Second Set

- The squads swapped multi-point services, going back and forth up to the 9-9 mark

- Jenna Vogen broke Catawba's serve and added a second kill before Hadley Prince's ace put the blue and white in a five-point hole

- Prince fired an errant serve, shifting service to Bodell who went ace-error then quickly got the point back with a quick kill

- Two kills by Gonzales and one from Wattles interrupted LR's set-ending 9-3 run that put the Bears one set away from victory

Third Set

- LR had another hot start that Bodell severed with a pair of side-out kills, keying a comeback to level proceedings early at 6-6

- Neither team managed to take more than a two-point advantage as Rogers, Love, and Bodell provided steady offense for Catawba

- Three kills in four rallies by Kathy Peter threatened to put the Bears further ahead, but the pendulum swung in Catawba's favor following a timeout as Bodell logged two kills followed by consecutive Moffett aces

- Faced with a 24-21 deficit, LR stormed back to chalk up four points in a row before Rogers knotted the set at 25-all

- Aasia McNeill killed the ensuing rally to get the Bears to match point, then Averie Dale aced the next serve to seal an LR sweep

UP NEXT

Catawba heads south to Gaffney, S.C. tomorrow for a match with Limestone at 4 p.m.