Spartanburg, S.C. – The Furman volleyball team began a two-match conference series with the Wofford Terriers on Sunday afternoon falling 3-0 (27-29, 20-25, 13-25) inside Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.

Furman falls to 4-9 overall and 4-9 in the SoCon, while Wofford improves to 10-4 on the season and 10-4 in conference play.

Courtney Hoffman and Maya Mrus led the Paladins offensively with eight kills apiece, while Natalie Dunn added seven. Katie Murphy (17) and Ella Abraham (13) combined for 30 assists. Andrea Aceveda recorded a team-leading 16 digs.

Sarah Barham led all players with a game-high 12 kills for the Terriers and Meghan Yaffa contributed nine. Emily Hodsdon posted 34 assists. Defensively, Abbey Richman registered 18 digs.

Furman began the match scoring four of the opening five points of the first set and led 4-1 with Hoffman and Sydney Tanner both picking up kills. Wofford came back to tie the score twice before Mrus put the Paladins back in front 8-7 with her kill. The Terriers answered with a 9-4 run, capped by Yaffa's kill, to go in front 16-11. The Paladins rallied with an 8-2 run of their own and evened the score at 19-19 following a kill from Dunn. A combination block by Tanner and Hoffman, and Tanner's kill, put Furman at set point leading 24-22. Wofford scored the next two points to tie the set at 24-24. The teams traded the next six points before the Terriers got kills by Barham and Emily Durham to win 29-27.

The teams exchanged the first 10 points of the second set as the Paladins evened the score at 5-5 on a kill by Kelsey Watkins. Wofford then broke the set open courtesy of an 8-1 run and built out a 13-6 advantage on a Paladin attack error. Trailing 20-14 late, Furman made a late charge scoring five straight points. Watkins and Dunn combined for three kills, and Abraham recorded a service ace, to put the Paladins down 20-19. The Terriers ended the set on a 5-1 run for the 25-20 victory.

Wofford scored eight of the first nine points in the third set to lead by seven, 8-1, on a Furman attack error. The Paladins rallied to within four, 9-5, following an attack error by the Terriers.  Wofford then went on a 5-1 run and extended its lead out to 14-6 on a combination block from Yaffa and Riley Coonan. Furman got as close as seven points late when Hoffman made the score 18-11 with her kill. The Paladins would be held to two points after that as the Terriers won the set 25-13 to capture the 3-0 match victory.

Furman and Wofford conclude their series on Monday evening at 5 p.m.