Oct. 29, 2005

Box Score

GREENVILLE, South Carolina - Saturday night in Alley Gym Furman's Lady Paladin volleyball team committed 14 service errors in a 3-0 loss to Georgia Southern that featured a trio of games decided by a total of 10 points.

Furman jumped out to 20-12 advantage in game one, but the Eagles stormed back to tie the match at 25 and take their first lead 26-25 on a Whitney Purser attacking error. Purser put down a kill on the next play to tie the game at 26, but a kill by GSU's Jennifer Charles gave the Eagles the advantage once again, and the Lady Paladins were forced to play catch up for the rest of the game. After catching GSU at 29 on an Emily Harby kill, Purser committed a service error to give the Eagles a chance at game point. GSU responded with a kill by Iulia Porumbescu to win game one 31-29.

Game two was extremely close early on with the Lady Paladins trailing 15-14 at the halfway point. The Eagles went on a 6-2 run to take the 21-16 lead and though Furman pulled to within three, 25-22 on a Purser kill, Georgia Southern took the 30-24 decision.

Game three was another close affair, with 13 ties before the Eagles won the 30-28 decision. Furman's effort was hampered by five service errors and a .167 hitting percentage in the game, while Georgia Southern hit .225 with three errors on the serve.

The Lady Paladins were paced on the night by freshman Emily Harby, who hit .600 with 11 kills, and sophomore Kerry Wooten, who hit .273 with 11 kills. Kim Tonkin totaled a team-high nine digs, while setter Courtney Stewardson tallied 38 assists, four block assists, and one block solo in the loss.

The Eagles were led by Iulia Porumbescu's 15 kills, while Jennifer Charles added 10 with a .353 attack percentage. Porumbescu also paced the defense with 13 digs on the night, while Bailey Coleman totaled 12 and Staci Anderson and Natalia Galantini each managed 10.

With the loss, the Lady Paladins fall to 10-14 overall and 6-8 in the Southern Conference, while Georgia Southern improves to 16-8 overall and 9-3 in league play. Furman returns to action on Friday, Nov. 4, with a 7 p.m. home match against Elon.