CHARLESTON, S.C. - Charleston Southern won their first match in
the Al Givens' era on the first day of the Willie Jewell's
Volleyball Invitational, topping Canisius in five sets in their
first match of the afternoon and the Buccaneers completed the first
day sweep behind record setting performances by Erin LaVenice and
Wynter Davis against USC Upstate as the Buccaneers downed the
Spartans in five sets.
Charleston Southern opens up the final day of the Willie
Jewell's Volleyball Invitational Saturday afternoon as the
Buccaneers host Mercer University at 2 p.m. CSU closes out the
tournament Saturday evening against Furman University in the final
match of the day, with first serve set for 7 p.m.
Match One: CSU 3, Canisius 2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-16,
21-25, 15-7)
Box Score
The Charleston Southern volleyball team recorded their first win
in the Al Givens' coaching era behind Sydney Tracy's double-double
as the Buccaneers topped the Canisius Golden Griffins on the first
day of the Willie Jewell's Volleyball Invitational in the Buccaneer
Field house in five sets, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 21-25, 15-7.
Tracy led the way for the Buccaneers (1-3) as the sophomore
outside hitter finished with a match-high 18 kills and 22 digs in
the first double-double recorded by Charleston Southern on the
season. Jessica Warner led three Golden Griffin (1-3) players in
double-digits kills with 13 as Canisius fell in their first match
of the weekend.
"Syd had a great match for us offensively," commented Givens on
the match. "She passed the ball really well and just really played
great for us. We needed a match like this to know that we can be up
2-1, lose the fourth set and still come back for the win."
Erin LaVenice added nine kills and Wynter Davis had as the
Buccaneers hit .199 from the floor as a team in the contest.
Kirsten Struksnes set up the CSU attack with 30 set assists in the
match, while Ashley Higgenbothem (14) and Siraya Windsor (11) had
double-digit digs for Charleston Southern. Davis and LaVenice
combined for 10 total blocks in the match as the Buccaneers
recorded a season high 11 blocks in the match.
Canisius jumped out to an early 9-3 lead in the first set, but
Charleston Southern battled back on Windsor's serve, cutting the
deficit to 12-11 with an 8-2 run as Windsor placed in a service
ace. The teams struggled to serve in the opening set, combining for
10 service errors. Canisius broke the CSU serve and held on for the
rest of the set, closing out the 25-22 victory on a kill by Logan
Sulongga to go up 1-0.
Charleston Southern and Canisius battled through the second set
with CSU taking the lead early behind a pair of LaVenice kills to
hold the 11-8 advantage. Canisius kept the set close, closing to
21-20 on a block by Warner and Samantha Good, but back-to-back
kills by Meredith Parrott and Windsor opened up a three point lead
as Charleston Southern evened the match with a 25-22 victory after
a LaVenice kill.
The Buccaneers scored eight of the first 10 points in the third
set to jump out to the early lead and led 16-8 following a Canisius
ball-handling error. Tracy led the Buccaneers with four kills in
the set, while LaVenice added three of her own as Charleston
Southern led by as many as nine points at 24-15 before closing out
the set on a Golden Griffin attack error.
Jordan Tylec broke open a close-nit fourth set as the teams
stood tied through the first 22 points of the frame, placing a
service ace in as the Golden Griffens built a 20-14 lead.
Charleston Southern battled back with a 7-0 run highlighted by a
combined block by LaVenice and Davis, going up 21-20, but the
comeback fell short as Emily Elek recorded back-to-back kills to
give Canisius the advantage as the teams went into the deciding
fifth set following the 25-21 set victory.
A 9-0 run in the fifth set on Higgenbothem's serve put the
Buccaneers ahead early as CSU cruised to the 15-7 set and match
win.
"This match was a labor of love as we had all the momentum
heading into the fourth set, but its to their credit that Canisius
came back all fired up," said Givens on the match. "I really liked
what we showed in the fifth game. Our setters did a great job at
the end, making sure the right people got the ball and we were able
to come home with the win."
Match Two: CSU 3, USC Upstate 2 (25-23, 12-25, 25-17,
25-27, 15-4)
Box Score
Erin LaVenice and Wynter Davis each surpassed the CSU single
match record for blocks and Sydney Tracy and Katrina Houston
combined for 24 kills as the Buccaneers topped USC Upstate in the
final match on the first day of the Willie Jewell's Volleyball
Invitational in the Buccaneer Fieldhouse in five sets, 25-23,
12-25, 25-17, 25-27, 15-4.
Charleston Southern (2-3) shattered the previous CSU single game
record for total blocks as the Buccaneers recorded 19 total blocks
against the Spartans on the evening. LaVenice set a school record
with 13 block assists in the match, while Davis added 11 as the
Buccaneers broke the single game record of 15 blocks, which CSU had
reached twice in program history on Oct. 15, 2010 against
Presbyterian and on Oct. 20, 2007 against Radford.
"We're blocking the ball really, really well and we need to
continue to build off that," commented head coach Al Givens on the
match. "If we have to go five sets, we want to win and Sydney
(Tracy) strung together back-to-back big time performances for us
and Katrina (Houston) really came on in sets four and five and did
some great things for us. We made mistakes in this match, but I
think the biggest lesson our team learned is that we stayed the
course and they just kept working and working and it paid off for
them in the end."
Tracy added 13 kills in the match, running her total on the
first day to 31 as the sophomore outside hitter continued to
display her ability all over the court. Houston came on strong in
the final two sets to finish with 11 kills in the match, hitting
.292 from the floor and added three blocks to the teams' totals in
the match.
Upstate jumped out to the early lead in the first set, scoring
the first five points of the match, but the Buccaneers came roaring
back with a 16-5 run sparked by four blocks by CSU as well as a
pair of Tracy kills as CSU built a 16-10 advantage. Upstate rallied
back, tying the match up at 17 apiece on a kill by Mindy Quimby,
but an ace by Siraya Windsor put the Buccaneers ahead as CSU took
the first set on a Tracy kill to go up 1-0 with the 25-23
victory.
In the second set, Upstate broke a 5-all tie with a 10-1 run as
Quimby recorded three consecutive kills for the Spartans during the
stretch as USC Upstate went up 15-6 on their way to cruising to the
25-12 victory to even the match at 1-apiece.
Meredith Parrott was involved in back-to-back blocks for
Charleston Southern early in the third set as CSU built a 14-9
advantage. The lead stretched to nine points at 23-14 following a
Windsor kill off the assist from Cassidy Greer before Tracy again
closed out the set with the final point to put the Bucs within one
set of the day sweep.
USC Upstate held a 24-21 advantage in the fourth set following a
kill by Kayla McAvoy, but the Buccaneers rallied behind LaVenice
and Parrott at the net as the duo combined for back-to-back blocks
to knot the match up at 24-all. After an Upstate service error tied
the match at 25, Quimby closed out the set with back-to-back kills
to send the teams to the deciding fifth set.
The Buccaneers recorded four blocks in the first 10 points of
the final set in building a 10-1 advantage and Kirsten Struksnes
served CSU home to their second five-set victory on the day as the
Buccaneers closed out the match with the 15-4 victory.
Greer set up the Buccaneers attack with 25 set assists as CSU
hit .169 for the match, .455 in the final set in recording the win.
Ashley Higgenbothem led the CSU defense with 19 digs, while Windsor
added 11 digs as well as seven kills to the CSU totals.
"Our setters are starting to put it all together now," said
Givens about the team's success in the match. "We can't get
satisfied on what we've done, so we'll enjoy this for a little
while and start game-planning and getting ready for Mercer tomorrow
afternoon."
