The Charlotte 49ers women’s volleyball team participated in their second Atlantic 10 conference match and defeated the Duquesne Dukes at the Palumbo Center in the final three sets; (20-25, 21-25, 29-27, 25-20, 15-5).
After winning their last four league matches, 11 of their 13 overall continue to improve to 13-7, 4-1 in league play.
Redshirt junior Kat Hicks and freshman Bianca Rouse, two out of Charlotte’s top three hitters this season has the highest total kills in the rally. Hicks recorded 19 kills and Rouse recorded 18 kills on a .484 attack percentage. Rouse reigns as the conference Rookie of the Week.
“I am very proud of our team, it took a collective effort to win this one,” Niners head coach Chris Redding said.
In the first set, the two teams had traded the lead until the Dukes had controlled the frame scoring four of the last five points, establishing a 1-0 lead. In the second set, the Niners led until a 12-all tie. The Dukes were able to force the tie. After trading back and forth between the teams, the hosts gained a 20 -19 edge, holding on up to 2-0 into the intermission.
“Duquesne was playing better than we were at the start of the match. We responded after the break and pulled together. It was a great way to start our road weekend,” Redding said.
The Niners were able to lead in the third, until they reached a 12-all tie. After seeing the band of ties, the Dukes were near closing out in the third set. Managing a 23-20, until the Dukes made two errors, freshman Jenna Litoborski and Rouse went for a kill giving Charlotte a 24-23 lead.
Since that point, the 49ers continued to push forward. The Dukes forced ties, but with Litoborski and Hick’s ensuing kills, gave Charlotte its first set win of the evening.
Though Duquesne came in the lead earlier in the fourth set, the 49ers battled back to gain a 7-6 lead to break the tie breakings.
Following last Friday’s script of the fifth set versus Fordham, the Niners advanced out the Dukes on all five of their serves in a 15-5 match set. For Charlotte, recording two blocks and earning two kills made Duquesne add error on five of their serves in the deciding set.
Sophomore setter Sheri Davis netted a fourth setter double-double of the season with 52 assists and 10 digs. Senior co-captain Kaitlin Knight recorded 25 digs. Litoborski, on offense with 13 kills. Hicks and junior Kara Raker added five blocks each.
The Niners will return to Halton Arena on Saturday as they play host to George Washington with a 2 p.m. first service time.
The Charlotte 49ers women’s volleyball team finished their weekend road-trip with a three-set loss to No. 21 St. Louis (25-10, 25-14, 25-14) Sunday afternoon in conference action. With the loss, Charlotte falls to 13-8 overall, 4-2 in Atlantic 10 action. The Billikens improved their record to 12-5 on the season and remained undefeated in conference play at 5-0.
“Saint Louis is the defending champs and they played like it,” said Charlotte head coach Chris Redding. “I was disappointed that we were unable to execute our game plan, but Saint Louis was part of the reason. We’re still happy to get the split this weekend and we look forward to our preparation for George Washington for next weekend.”
Bridget Fonke led the Billikens with a double-double, scoring 12 kills and 10 digs. Fonke wasn’t the only St. Louis player to score double-digit kills as Sammi McCloud had 10. Charlotte was behind early and often and couldn’t gain any momentum; for the match there were only four lead changes and four tie scores.
Freshman Bianca Rouse led Charlotte in kills with seven, the seventh time this season she has done so. Senior Kaitlin Knight had 16 kills for Charlotte.
For her efforts over the weekend, Knight took home the Atlantic-10 Co-Defensive Player of the Week award. This is the first such honor a 49er volleyball player has won, as this is the first year of the weekly award.
With a stunning 5.12 digs per set, Knight accumulated 41 for the Niners as they went 1-1 on the week. She had 25 and 16 digs, respectively in the conference weekend at Duquesne and St. Louis.
Knight alo leads the the Atlantic-10 conference in aces with 43, she added three over the weekend. Teammate Kara Raker is second in the league with 28. Knight also leads Charlotte with 293 digs (3.76 per set) on the season. Charlotte faces Atlantic-10 foe George Washington on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Halton Arena.
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