GREENVILLE, S.C. – Makayla Bays and Reese Rhodes both finished with double-doubles on Friday evening to lift the East Tennessee State Buccaneers to a 3-1 (25-20, 15-25, 14-25, 22-25) victory over the Furman Paladins in Southern Conference volleyball action at Alley Gymnasium.
Furman drops to 8-10 overall and 2-5 in the Southern Conference. With the win, East Tennessee State improves to 12-8 on the season and 4-4 in league play.
Ashley Stein guided the Paladins offensively with nine kills while
Izzy Castelloe provided eight and
Ava Augustson seven.
Emily Navarro and
Quinn Morrissey combined for 25 assists and 16 digs.
Kennedy Seekford tied for a match high with 15 digs.
Bays totaled 13 kills for ETSU to lead all players to go with 11 digs. Rhodes compiled 32 assists and 10 digs. Melanie Morris added 15 digs.
Furman hit .222 in the opening set, with Castelloe and Augustson posting four kills each, while limiting the Buccaneers to .086 hitting. East Tennessee State tied the set at 5-5 early before the Paladins outscored the Buccaneers 13-5 to lead 18-10 following an attack error. Castelloe later extended Furman's lead to 22-16 but East Tennessee State answered with three straight points. The Paladins scored the final two points off an attack error and Augustson kill to secure the 25-20 triumph.
The Buccaneers combined for eight blocks in the second and third sets to win by scores of 25-15 and 25-14 to take a 2-1 lead. Furman was held to just -.057 and -.086 hitting while Bays registered seven kills.
The fourth set featured 16 ties and nine lead changes as ETSU jumped out to an early 9-7 lead. The Paladins responded with three consecutive points to go in front, 10-9, capped by Castelloe's kill. The Buccaneers would go ahead 18-15 midway before being outscored by Furman 6-2. The Paladins held a 20-19 advantage following an East Tennessee State service error. ETSU ended the set on a 5-1 run for the 25-22 win.
Furman travels to Johnson City, Tenn., on Tuesday, October 29 to face East Tennessee State at 6 p.m. Fans can follow the action on www.furmanpaladins.com via live stats. Updates will be posted on the Furman volleyball Twitter page (@FurmanVB).
