Going toe to toe with one of the toughest teams in your conference is always tough, but the ETSU Lady Buccaneer volleyball squad proved that with hard work and dedication, you can hang in there.
And they did, leading Furman two games to one, before surrendering to the Lady Paladins in the fourth game and overtime, falling 3-2 in Southern Conference competition at Brooks Gym Saturday.
“I thought it was a good overall stretch,” said Lady Buc coach Dean Webb.
“We took another step in competing as a team in the conference. Hopefully, we’ll get there as we’re making big strides.
“Today, we went all the way with one of the better teams in the conference. We’re still not a hundred percent, but we’re excited about what we’ll have come tournament time.”
Furman (12-8, 7-1) regained its second position in the conference standings, with a shot coming up to take a lead. However, coach Michelle Young was pleased with her team’s effort.
“We hung in there long enough, but made a lot of unforced errors with this new scoring system,” Young said. “We held it long enough to get our offense back in system. It was a good road trip for us, we came out of it 2-0 when we’ve been struggling. Now we control our destiny to at least tie in the conference.”
Furman took the first game at 30-21, while ETSU (5-10, 3-4) battled back with a 30-27 hold in the second game to force some extra playing time.
Lady Bucs opened the third game with a huge 4-0 lead, and held a 7-3 lead before Furman tied the contest at nine all. The Lady Paladins took their first lead and held it until the Lady Bucs regained at 14-13 forcing a timeout.
ETSU started back with a 16-13 lead, but battled strong with Furman, as defense allowed the Lady Paladins to battle to a 19-19 tie. It was all ETSU from that point, as the Lady Bucs built back to take the third game at 30-25, needing one game to win.
ETSU opened the second game as if on fire, with a strong 5-1 lead, but the Lady Paladins battled back to tie the contest at 5-5. It was a closely guarded game with Furman taking a 12-9 lead at a point, before ETSU battled back strong to tie it again. Furman took a 22-17 lead before ETSU took a timeout.
Furman held strong at 26-20 before another ETSU timeout, but came back strong and took the 30-23 fourth game. Both teams had two warnings a piece going into the third contest.
Overtime took a decisive twist in favor of the Paladins early, as you could see both teams showing some fatigue. However, Furman began to battle strong with an 8-3 lead before both teams swapped sides.
ETSU battled from a 10-5 deficit to an 11-8 margin before Furman called a timeout. Furman regained control with a 15-9 win in overtime to take the win over the Lady Bucs.
Furman’s Abby Simon led the game with 16 kills, while ETSU’s Nicole Ryan provided 15. Furman’s Laura Bush led the game with 4 blocks and provided 13 kills.
Amber Montague added 13 kills, while Carrie Rowley added 15 kills for Furman. Sara Scandiffio had 14 kills to Lissa Allen’s 11 for state.
Michelle Cauldwell set 53 assists for Furman on the afternoon while Kristi Robinson set 48 assists for the Lady Bucs.
Furman had a strong 75 percent attack ration in the final period, allowing them to battle to the win. ETSU travels to Appalachian State for a 7 p.m. time on Monday.

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