Greenville, S.C. – The Furman volleyball team closed out the regular season on Saturday evening with a 3-2 (17-25, 14-25, 30-28, 25-23, 9-15) loss to The Citadel Bulldogs in Southern Conference play at McAlister Field House.
Furman concludes the regular season 17-10 overall and 8-8 in the SoCon. With the win, The Citadel improves to 26-2 on the season and 14-2 in league play.
The Paladins will be the No. 5 seed in next week's SoCon Volleyball Championship, which will be hosted by Wofford, November 17-19, at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium in Spartanburg, S.C. Furman is set to face fourth-seed Samford on Friday, November 17 at 11:30 a.m.
The Paladins dropped the opening two sets before rallying back in the fourth and fifth frames to claim 30-28, 25-23 wins to force the match into a fifth set.
The Bulldogs opened on an 8-1 run in the fifth set and would lead 11-2 following a Furman ball handling error. The Paladins attempted a late rally with a 7-3 run and trailed 14-9, leading to a timeout by The Citadel.
Grainne McGrath and
Lauren Haynes combined for three straight kills during the run. The Bulldogs captured the set, and match, the following point.
After falling in the first two sets, Furman began its rally by winning the third 30-28 with Haynes and McGrath combining for 11 of its 17 kills. The Citadel led by seven, 20-13, late before the Paladins answered with a 7-2 run and cut their deficit down to 22-20 when Haynes recorded a kill. Following a kill by the Bulldogs, Furman secured four of the next six points to even the score at 24-24 and sat at set point leading 25-24 after back-to-back kills from McGrath. The teams traded the next seven points before an attack error by The Citadel and kill from
Genevieve Perry gave the Paladins the 30-28 victory.
Seven different Furman players recorded a kill in the fourth set, which featured 11 ties and six lead changes, while hitting .260 as a team. Haynes gave the Paladins a 19-17 lead late in the frame until the Bulldogs responded with a 6-1 run to hold a 23-20 advantage. Furman fought back by scoring the last five points with Perry,
Ava Augustson, and
Chandler Parker all picking up kills. For the second straight set, Perry won the frame for the Paladins, 25-23, with her kill.
The Citadel registered a 25-17 win in set one and followed with a 25-14 triumph in set two.
Haynes and
Ella Abraham both registered double-doubles to lead Furman. Haynes picked up her seventh double-double of the year, tied for first on the team, with 12 kills and 15 digs. Abraham finished with her sixth double-double on 29 assists and 14 digs. McGrath provided 11 kills and Perry added a season best 10. Defensively,
Kennedy Seekford led the team with 18 digs.
Ali Ruffin led all players with a match high 22 kills for the Bulldogs and had a double-double after totaling 14 digs. Gina DeLancey had 13 kills and Maddy Cardenas 10. Belle Hogan collected 56 assists to go with nine digs, and Jaelynn Elgert had a match high 33 digs.
Ticket information for the 2023 SoCon Volleyball Championship will be available soon on www.furmanpaladins.com and the Furman volleyball Twitter page (@FurmanVB).
