Charleston, S.C. – Mikaela Schultz recorded a career-high 15 kills to lead the Furman Paladins to a 3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 25-23) sweep of The Citadel Bulldogs in SoCon volleyball action Sunday afternoon from McAlister Field House.
Furman improves to 1-2 on the season and in league play while The Citadel drops to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
Schultz's 15-kill performance came off a career-high .333 hitting percentage while also contributing five digs.
Courtney Hoffman provided nine kills to go with a .300 hitting percentage.
Maya Mrus matched her career-best of eight kills and set a new career-high with 10 digs.
Katie Murphy dished out 35 assists and
Andrea Aceveda registered a season-high 20 digs.
Sarah Turner tallied nine digs.
Sharlissa de Jesus led the Bulldogs offensively with 14 kills on .440 hitting and added seven digs. Mellanie King posted nine kills and six digs. Amie Greene had 32 assists and Kenzie Kellerman 11 digs.
Schultz notched six of her 15 kills in the first set which saw the score tied 18 times. The opening 40 points of the set was highlighted by the score being even on 16 occurrences as The Citadel led by two points four times during that stretch and the Paladins holding the lead three times.
Neci Harris gave Furman a 15-14 lead midway before the Bulldogs went ahead 20-19. After The Citadel scored back-to-back points to lead 22-20, the Paladins came back with three straight points to go ahead 23-22 after back-to-back kills from Schultz. Furman benefited from two consecutive Bulldog attack errors to win the set 25-23.
The second set also included 18 ties as Hoffman and Schultz combined for nine of the Paladins' 16 kills. The teams traded the first 22 points before Furman got blocks from Harris and Murphy to take a 13-11 lead. Hoffman later kept the Paladins ahead by two, 16-14, after her kill. The Citadel would then go on a 5-1 run and lead 19-17, forcing Furman into a timeout. The Paladins managed to tie the score at 22-22 on Harris' kill but the Bulldogs answered with the next two points. Facing set point three times, including 24-22, Furman came back to even the score at 25-25. After The Citadel put the score at 26-26, the Paladins received a kill from Hoffman and a Bulldog attack error to capture the set 28-26.
Murphy gave Furman an early 7-5 lead in the third set off her service ace. The Citadel then scored four of the next six points to tie the score at 9-9. The Paladins held an advantage of three points three times after that before using a 6-1 run late to take their largest lead of the set, 23-16, on a Bulldog attack error. The Citadel made a late charge and got to within one, 24-23, capping a 7-1 run of its own. Mrus won the set, and match, for Furman on the following play with a kill.
The Paladins concluded the match hitting .192 as a team and held the overall advantage in kills (41-35), assists (41-33) and digs (50-34). The Bulldogs posted a .156 team hitting percentage. Both teams totaled six blocks. The match featured a total of 40 ties and 11 lead changes.
The teams wrap up their two-match series on Monday evening at 5 p.m.
