Towson, Charleston Advance in CAA Volleyball Championship
Andy Hogue
2018 CAA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
CHARLESTON, S.C. (November 16, 2018) – No. 4 Towson and No. 3 Charleston advanced to the semifinals of the 2018 CAA Volleyball Tournament with wins in the quarterfinals on Friday in College of Charleston’s F. Mitchell Johnson Center.
Towson is set to face top-seeded Hofstra on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET and Charleston will face No. 2 James Madison at 4 p.m. in the following match. Both matches will be streamed live on CAA.tv.
Hofstra and Towson have each taken a match in the season series, with the Tigers taking a five-set win in the pair’s latest meeting on Oct. 19. James Madison swept the season series against the Cougars, winning in four sets in each contest.
No. 4 Towson 3, No. 5 Northeastern 0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-23)
Towson clawed its way to a straight-set quarterfinal victory over Northeastern. The Tigers were led defensively by Anna Holehouse, who finished the match with 26 kills. On the offensive side, Towson was paced offensively by Olamide Sonuga, Jocelyn Kuilan and Emily Jarome each tallied 11 kills in the win.
Towson led early in the first set, jumping out to an early 8-3 lead. Northeastern went on a 11-3 run to take a 14-11 lead following a pair of kills by Athena Ardila to ignite the Husky offense. The teams would end up tied at 19-19, but Towson would surge to win the set on a service error by Gabrielle Tschannen.
The Huskies grabbed a quick lead in the second set, going up 5-3. Towson and Northeastern traded points until midway through the set, when the Tigers came back to tie it up, 18-18.Northeastern took four of the next six points, but Towson would rally to take the set 25-22.
The third set started out with neither team able to obtain an advantage, but Towson broke the back-and-forth and eventually took a 12-8 lead. The teams traded blows once again until eventually Northeastern looked poised to force a fourth set, going up 23-22. Northeastern would put an attack attempt into the net to give Towson a 25-23 victory.
No. 3 Charleston 3, No. 6 UNCW 1 (25-19, 25-13, 23-25, 25-21)
Charleston outlasted a late surge by UNCW to defeat the Seahawks in four sets to advance to the semifinals. CAA Player of the Year Devon Rachel posted 20 kills, while Allison Beckman tallied 54 assists. The Seahawks’ Maddy Kline paced the offense for UNCW, knocking down 14 kills at a .308 hitting percentage.
Charleston jumped out to an early lead in the first set, leading 11-4. The Seahawks never led the first set, and the Cougars won 25-19.
The second set was fairly even in the first half of the set, with UNCW trailing midway through the set 15-10. Charleston would go on a 10-3 run to close the set 25-13.
UNCW came out of the break with a new fire, jumping out to a quick 4-1 lead in the third set. Charleston drew close to tie 7-7, but a couple of errors by the Cougars and a service ace by Brynn Montgomery put the Seahawks up 14-8. UNCW would not relinquish the lead again in the set, though Charleston did threaten in the end, pulling within two when the set closed out at 25-23.
The fourth set started much like the third with the teams trading points leading to a 10-10 tie midway through the set. UNCW pulled away to lead 19-17, but would only score two more points as Charleston would take the set 25-21 to win the match.