Junior setter Cole Dawley (Charleston, S.C.) helped the College of Charleston (18-12, 12-4) win its sixth Southern Conference Championship in eight years as she delivered 36 assists, 16 digs, seven kills and hit .636 in a 3-0 victory over Furman (26-4, 16-0) in the SoCon title volleyball match in Greenville, S.C. on Sunday, November 22. The Cougars claimed the championship by scores of 26-24, 25-18 and 25-22. The victory also snaps the Paladins school record 19-match win streak and hands them their first loss to a league team.
“It was a great team effort today to come into a hostile environment like Furman and get a win against an undefeated Southern Conference team” said head coach Jason Kepner. “This is a great accomplishment for us. I’m very proud of the overall performance of this team. They fought for every single point and we had talked about needing to do that to come away with a victory today”.
In a battle of the past two Southern Conference champions, neither team could gain a competitive advantage early as they were separated by no more than three points before Furman took an 11-7 lead. Trailing 14-10, the Cougars used a 4-1 run that featured a pair of kills from sophomore middle blocker Sarah Havel (Carmel, Ind.) to close to within 15-14 before the Paladins extended their lead to 18-14 with three straight kills, two of which came from freshman middle blocker Caroline Adams on consecutive plays.
Back-to-back kills from junior right side hitter Ginny Phillips (Raleigh, N.C.) keyed a 3-0 run to narrow the gap to 18-17 but Furman managed to hold onto a two-point lead at 20-18. At that point, the College of Charleston knotted the score at 20-20 with consecutive points and began a stretch of four ties that resulted in a 24-24 deadlock. A Paladin error followed by a service ace from freshman setter Liza Price (Fort Mill, S.C.) then sealed the victory at 26-24 and gave CofC a 1-0 lead in the match.
Following several early ties and lead changes in the second set that left the College of Charleston with a 10-9 lead, the Cougars used a 9-4 run fueled by three kills from Phillips, to push their advantage to 19-13. Furman would pull to within 22-18 down the stretch but an ace by Dawley and a pair of errors gave the College of Charleston a 25-18 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
With a chance to put the match away, the College of Charleston did not disappoint as they raced out to leads of 12-6 and 15-8 in Game 3. Furman then responded with a 9-4 run to close to within 19-17 and eventually narrowed the gap to 23-21. An exchange of points left the score at 24-22 before a kill by sophomore middle blocker Elyse Chubb (Peachtree City, Ga.) sent the Cougars running onto the floor as 2009 Southern Conference Champions.
“We had clutch plays from every one of our players at some point during this match” added Kepner. “The biggest might have been the third game with a back set to Ginny Phillips with no blocker. It got us out of a bad situation and gave us a lot of energy to push to the finish”.
Freshman outside hitter Natalie Braun led Furman with eight kills and 13 digs while senior setter Kelsey Salava dished out 31 assists. Caroline Adams and sophomore right side hitter Kelly Kirby each added seven kills.
Cole Dawley led the way for the Cougars with 36 assists, 16 digs, both match-highs, and seven kills to go along with a .636 hitting percentage. Ginny Phillips posted a stellar performance as she pounded 16 kills along with nine digs, seven assists, four blocks and a .414 hitting percentage. Sarah Havel finished with nine kills while Elyse Chubb had eight. Junior libero Paige Johnson (Sleepy Hollow, Ill.) added 14 digs for the Cougars.
The College of Charleston will now wait to see where they will play in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The selection show will air on Sunday, November 29 on ESPNews from 3:00-3:30 p.m.
“I hope Furman is considered for an at-large bid because they are a very deserving team but I look forward to sitting with my team and watching the NCAA selection show next Sunday” said Kepner.
