Concord Falls at Charleston

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Concord University volleyball team was swept by Charleston in matches Thursday night at the Wehrle Center in Mountain East Conference play.
 
Match 1: Charleston 3 – Concord 1 (25-18, 19-25, 25-15, 25-16)

Set 1
After a kill from junior middle hitter Sheridan Herron to get Concord (0-6) to within 7-6 of the Golden Eagles (4-4), Charleston rattled off a 5-2 run to gain a 12-8 advantage. UC was able to hold off Concord for the remainder of the game as it won the opening game by seven points.

Set 2
The Mountain Lions took command of the second set as it led 12-5 after 17 points. Charleston came back with a 4-0 run to close the lead to three points. However, UC committed back-to-back errors as the lead grew back to five point, 14-9. Concord was able to lead by at least four points throughout the rest of the game to tie the match at 1-1.

Set 3
Neither team could gain traction on the other early in the game, but it was UC that scored three straight points with an 11-9 edge to go up five points. Concord climbed back to within 17-15 after a kill by Herron, but Charleston scored five straight points to go up 2-1 in the match.

Set 4
CU took an 8-6 advantage after kills from sophomore middle hitter Amber Hall and junior setter Imani Rodgers, but the Golden Eagles went on a 5-0 run as it never gave the lead back in the fourth set.

Match Statistics
Hall had 16 kills on 30 attempts as she hit .433 in the match. Herron hit .500 and tallied a career-best 13 kills. Rodgers just missed a double-double with 24 assists and nine digs.

Senior defensive specialist Lindsay Maddox posted 13 digs and junior right side Peyton Wiseman added another 10 digs.

Match 2: Charleston 3 – Concord 2 (16-25, 26-24, 20-25, 25-11, 15-7)

Set 1
The Mountain Lions were able to separate themselves from Charleston at the midway point of the game. Leading 12-10, CU opened up an 18-12 advantage and continued to build on the lead for the remainder of the set.

Set 2
Concord raced out to a 7-1 edge, and was still leading 16-12 when the Golden Eagles scored five straight points to take their first lead of the game. From there neither team led by more than two points. UC held a 24-22 lead before a kill from Herron and a UC error knotted the game at 24-24. However, Charleston recovered to score the final two points.

Set 3
Much like the second set, Concord opened up leads of 11-7 and 19-14. Charleston would only get as close as three points in the closing stages of the game as Hall's 15^th kill of the
match gave CU a 2-1 lead in the match.

Set 4
The Golden Eagles had a quick answer to being down 2-1 in the contest as they opened a critical fourth game on an 11-4 run to force a deciding fifth set.

Set 5
UC used the fourth-set momentum to score the first six points of the game number five. Concord stayed within striking distance at 11-5, but was never able to get any closer for the remainder of the set.  

Match Statistics
Hall finishes with a career-best 19 kills while hitting .444 for the nightcap. Overall, Hall tallied 35 kills against Charleston while hitting .439 in nine sets. Senior outside hitter Kirsti Pouncy just missed a double-double with nine kills and eight digs. Herron added another eight kills after her career night in the first match.

Junior defensive specialist Kelli Ellison had a career-high 21 digs. Rodgers added 21 assists while freshman setter Kristin Lough chipped in 16 assists.

The Mountain Lions hosts West Virginia Wesleyan 7:00 p.m. Tuesday.