Women’s Volleyball strengthens conference tournament standing with reverse sweep over E&H

Salisbury, N.C. —- The Catawba College women's volleyball team solidified its conference tournament chances on Friday night, coming from 2-0 sets behind to defeat Emory & Henry, 3-2, in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action from Goodman Arena.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba recorded 55 kills to Emory & Henry's 50

- The Catawba Indians hit .156, while keeping the Wasps to .088

- Catawba held the advantage in assists 53-47

- The Catawba Indians recorded 11 service aces to E&H's seven

- Emory & Henry had 87 digs to Catawba's 81

- The Wasps edged out Catawba in blocks 8-5

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Rachel Gonzales went for a season-high 14 kills and three service aces 

- Lauren Patrick hit .625 to add 11 kills in just 16 swings

- Kelcie Love recorded double-digit kills for the fifth straight game with 10

- Dara Kane had a game-high 45 assists, while adding 15 digs

- Riley Hill recorded a team-high 27 digs; Kary Hales pitched in 15 digs and three aces 

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST SET

- Catawba raced out to a 9-3 lead in the first set to force an E&H timeout

- The Catawba Indians led 14-5, but the Wasps battled back, winning eight of 10 points to cut their deficit to 18-16

- E&H achieved set point, but Catawba answered back with a Jordan Danielson kill and an attack error to have a set point of their own at 25-24

- The Catawba Indians got another set point after E&H's service error

- The Wasps answered with three straight points to steal the set one win

SECOND SET

- Catawba once again opened up an early lead, as Chloe Danielson's kill earned the home team a 7-1 lead

- Emory & Henry battled back, whittling their deficit down to 14-13 to force a Catawba timeout

- The Wasps extended their run to 21-9, leading 22-16 after a Catawba attack error

- Catawba fought back to cut their deficit to three, but E&H closed the set out with a Grace Duey kill

THIRD SET

- It was the Wasps who sprinted out to an early lead in set three, leading 4-2 after Duey's ace

- Baylee Reasor's kill forced a Catawba timeout, as E&H led 11-7

- The Catawba Indians enjoyed a run of six straight points to turn a 12-9 deficit into a 15-12 lead

- Both sides remained neck-and-neck until Catawba went another five-point run to lead 23-17

- Catawba closed out the set on Devyn Berg's ace

FOURTH SET

- Four straight Catawba points gave them a 6-4 advantage early on in set four

- The teams remained deadlocked throughout the middle of the set with ties at 10, 11 and 14

- E&H's 5-1 run opened up an 18-15 lead, forcing a Catawba timeout

- The Wasps led 21-17 before Catawba stormed back with six straight points, capped by Gonzales' kill to take a 23-21 lead

- Emory & Henry earned the next point, but Gonzales returned with another kill and an attack error forced the decisive fifth set

FIFTH SET 

- Catawba forced an early Wasp timeout, leading 5-2 after back-to-back kills from Patrick and Love

- The Catawba Indians led 9-3 after another 4-0 burst which included two more kills from Patrick and Love

- E&H cut it to 10-8, but Catawba ended the match on a 5-1 run, fittingly ended by a Gonzales kill to exceed their 2022 win total with three regular season matches remaining

UP NEXT

- Catawba returns to Goodman Arena on Saturday, hosting Mars Hill for Senior Day at 4 p.m.