This past weekend the Lady Bucs traveled to face some tough competitors. The first match came against Furman on Saturday.
The match went in Furman’s favor, going all five games (30-26, 26-30, 30-32, 30-21, 9-15). The first game started with an ETSU lead and win. The second went in Furman’s favor as well as the third.
The Bucs were able to take an eight-point advantage, 18-10 before winning 30-21. The fifth game was the deciding factor that gave Furman the edge over ETSU.
Jennifer Sartor led the Bucs with 15 kills, while Callie Kiselich and Sara Scandiffio tallied 11 each. Brittany Kessel showed another strong game with 46 assists and a .333 hitting percentage.
Chibuzo Aguocha was the driving force for the Lady Paladins recording 23 kills, seven of those in the fifth game, and a .436 hitting percentage. Courtney Stewardson registered 54 assists, followed by teammate Whitney Purser with 20 kills and 14 digs.
The Bucs recorded a .212 hitting percentage compared to the Lady Paladins .228. Both teams had 12 team blocks.
The loss drops the Bucs to 4-16, 3-7 in Southern Conference play, raising Furman to 9-12, 4-5.
“Blocking has greatly improved,” ETSU coach Lindsey Devine said. “We’re working on eliminating our errors, carrying our practices into the games and blocking.”
The next game took the Lady Bucs to South Carolina where they met up with the Wofford Terriers. The match found the Bucs down two games, but bounced back in the third and fourth to tie the match. The fifth game was a nail biter, going 18-16 in the Terrier’s favor. The win improves Wofford to 8-15, 4-5 in SoCon play.
ETSU drops to 4-17, 3-8. Scandiffio led the Bucs with a career high 23 kills, 47 total attacks and a .447 hitting percentage, followed by teammates Sartor with 20 kills, 15 digs and Kessel with 62 assists, 13 digs and 7 kills. Karen Freeburg was also a driving force for the Bucs with 20 digs.
“Scandiffio had a career high, Freeburg, Kiselich, and Sartor posted great blocks, and Kessel posted big numbers,” Devine said.
The Terriers were able to capture the win behind the play of Andrea Duke who tallied 25 kills, 17 digs and Rhea DeJesus with 66 assists.
The Bucs put up 13 team blocks and a .232 hitting percentage, while Wofford recorded eight team blocks and a .201 percentage.
“We had the potential to win,” Devine said. “We’ve been working hard on offense, things just didn’t go our way.”
ETSU’s next road game came against the Western Carolina Catamounts on Tuesday. Western Carolina came out on top, 3-1 (35-33, 30-27, 19-30, 30-24).
ETSU opened up the match with a 10-3 lead over the Catamounts. WCU tied the game at 13-all before ETSU would go on another run, 6-1.
After a Catamount timeout the game was tied at 24. WCU was able to win the game 35-33 despite the seven game point changes. Game two started in reverse with the Catamounts coming out on top, 11-4. The Bucs then tied the game at 14-all, and eventually would take control of the game.
The Catamounts climbed on top of game two with three kills and two aces. A kill by Heather Koontz gave the Catamounts the win.
Game three went in Bucs favor behind three solo blocks of Andrea Piercy. ETSU took a two-point lead, 20-18, in game four but could not stop Heather Koontz’s kill from winning the game and match for the Catamounts.
Piercy posted a double-double with a match-high 16 kills and 15 digs. Scandiffio recorded 14 kills, followed by Sartor with 2 aces, 37 assists and 14 digs.
The Catamounts were paced by Koontz who claimed her own double-double, 13 kills and 15 digs, while teammate Melissa Parana, Meredith Harmon and Danielle Spitzer tallied 12, 11, 10 kills respectively. ETSU had a hitting percentage of .180 compared to the Catamounts .205. The Lady Bucs did out blocked the Catamounts 13-8.

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