ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The second-seeded Furman volleyball team saw its season come to an end Saturday evening with a 3-0 (17-25, 23-25, 21-25) loss to the third-seeded Wofford Terriers in the semifinals of the SoCon Volleyball Championship from Harrah's Cherokee Center – Asheville.
Furman finishes the year with a 21-9 overall record, its most victories in a season since 2017. With the win, the Terriers improve to 16-13 and advances to tomorrow's championship match at 4 p.m. against top-seeded East Tennessee State.
Izzy Castelloe paced the Paladin offense with 10 kills on .292 hitting while
Lauren Haynes added nine on .391 hitting.
Emily Navarro dished out 17 assists and
Eva Wheeler contributed 13. Five different players registered six digs.
Chloe Smith led all players with a match high 15 kills for Wofford and Bradley Brown posted 12. Taylor Pecht contributed 25 assists and Caroline Przystup a match high 13 digs.
The Terriers compiled a .364 hitting percentage in the opening set, while Furman was limited to .143, to win the opening set 25-17. Castelloe had a team best four kills, Wheeler five assists and recorded two digs along with
Kennedy Seekford. Wofford started on a 7-1 run before the Paladins answered with a 10-5 run of their own and trailed 12-11 off
Grainne McGrath's kill. Furman was outscored 13-6 the rest of the way.
The Terriers pushed their lead to 2-0 in the second set following a 25-23 win. Haynes totaled four kills to lead the Paladins with Navarro collecting six assists and Wheeler four digs. Wofford held an early 8-5 lead when
Lindsay Walch made it 12-11 after her kill. Trailing 15-12 coming out of the media timeout, Furman ran off six of the next eight points and took an 18-17 lead off a Terrier attack error. Wofford responded with a 6-2 run to lead 23-20. The Paladins staged a late rally and were down 24-23 on a bad set. The Terriers secured the set the following point.
Wofford clinched the match with a 25-21 victory in the third set. Haynes added four more kills on .444 hitting, Navarro eight assists, and
Ashley Stein five digs. A Terrier service error gave Furman an early 5-4 lead and would go in front 9-8 when Castelloe and McGrath combined for a block. Stein later extended the Paladins' advantage to 12-10 with her kill. Wofford came back with a 12-6 run to hold a 22-18 lead, forcing Furman into a timeout. After the timeout, the Paladins scored three consecutive points to trail 23-21 capped by a combination block from Castelloe and Gorman. The Terriers picked up the last two points for the four-point win.
Furman concluded the match hitting .204 overall and led 5.0-3.0 in blocks. Castelloe and McGrath both finished with three assisted blocks.
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