Greenville, S.C. – Mary Beth Headley and Lauren Haynes both recorded double-doubles on Monday evening to lead the eighth-seeded Furman volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-7, 25-19) victory against the No. 9 seed UNC Greensboro Spartans in the first round of the 2022 SoCon Volleyball Championship at Alley Gymnasium.

Furman, who improves to 9-18 overall, moves on to the quarterfinals and will face top-seeded East Tennessee State on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. from Timmons Arena.

Headley paced the Paladin offense with her ninth double-double of the season on 13 kills and 13 digs while Haynes tallied her fourth double-double after recording 12 kills and a career high 22 digs. Morgan Cobb added nine kills and Andrea Aceveda 16 digs. Sarah Turner compiled 24 assists and eight digs while Ella Abraham dished out 19 assists.

Taylor Robertson led the Spartans offensively with nine kills and Sierra Herndon recorded seven. Gabriela McHugh totaled 33 assists, eight digs and seven kills. Ella Voegele finished with 20 digs and was joined by Avery Sziksai (13) and Mya Wood (11).

The teams split the first 12 points of the first set before Furman used a 9-2 run midway to hold a 15-8 advantage when Abraham registered a service ace. Headley would extend the Paladins' lead to 16-11 with her kill, but UNCG responded with a 7-3 run to cut Furman's lead down to 19-18. The Paladins closed out the set outscoring UNC Greensboro 6-3 for the 25-21 win. Furman captured the set when Headley and Kelsey Watkins combined for a block.

The Spartans pulled away late to take the second set 25-20 only to see the Paladins control the entire third set, limiting UNCG to -.161 hitting for the 25-7 triumph. Furman began the frame scoring seven consecutive points as part of an 11-2 run. The Paladins held a 15-5 lead at the media timeout and limited UNC Greensboro to just two points after that. Furman outscored the Spartans 10-2 following the media timeout including the last three on a kill from Cobb and two UNCG attack errors.

The Paladins never trailed during the fourth set and started out scoring nine of the initial 14 points, leading to a Spartan timeout when Haynes posted a kill. Furman led by seven points four times midway with the last coming at 19-12 on Cobb's kill. UNCG attempted a late rally and got to within four points at 20-16. The Paladins responded by scoring five of the last eight points to secure the 25-19 set victory and 3-1 match win. Furman received kills from Headley, Haynes, Sydney Tanner and Grainne McGrath to close out the match. McGrath won the match for the Paladins with her kill.

Furman concluded the contest with seven total blocks led by three (two assisted, one solo) from McGrath while Headley, Watkins, and Cobb each had two.

The Paladins are hosting the 2022 SoCon Volleyball Championship with all quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship contests scheduled to be played at Timmons Arena. Click here for tournament ticket information.