Sept. 21, 2004

Box Score

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina - Furman freshman Chibuzo Aguocha recorded 22 kills and Whitney Purser added 19 in leading the Lady Paladins to a 27-30, 30-28, 30-28, 26-30, 15-13 victory over UNC Asheville Tuesday night.

The win was Furman's third five-game victory of the season, and came down to the wire even though the Lady Paladins raced to a 7-2 game five lead, only to see the Bulldogs tie the score at 11-11. Furman pushed the lead to 13-11, but UNCA responded and made the game 14-13 before Purser's final kill of the night gave the Lady Paladins the win.

The victory moved Furman to 5-6 on the season and gave the Lady Paladins a victory as they enter the always tough Southern Conference season with a Friday night match at Elon.

Against the Bulldogs of UNCA, Furman struggled against unforced errors that kept the Lady Paladin offense off balance. The three games in which Furman recorded single digit hitting errors went the Lady Paladins' way, while games one and four, in which Furman totaled 12 and 13 errors, respectively, went to UNCA. Consequently, Aguocha's 22 kill night was dampened by 12 errors and a .227 attack percentage, while Purser hit just .135 and Ally Hock, who managed 18 kills on the night, hit .160.

Senior middle hitter Julia Fredrickson was the most efficient Lady Paladin, with a .351 attack percentage on 16 kills, and also paced Furman with six blocks on the night. Rosey Cashman topped the Furman effort with 18 digs, while setter Molly Rybak collected 75 assists on the night.

Though Furman served up just six aces to Asheville's 10, the Lady Paladins outblocked the Bulldogs 12.0 to 8.0, totaled 79 digs to UNCA's 70, and outhit their opponent .224 to .208.

Furman's Friday night match at Elon will be followed by a Tuesday night home matchup with UNC Greensboro. The Lady Paladins' next non-conference opponent is intrastate rival Clemson, scheduled for Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. at Timmons Arena.