Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
SIU-Edwardsville box score
Upstate box score

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Terriers women’s volleyball team went split a pair of matches Friday in the Wofford College Invitational with a 3-2 loss (21-25, 25-14, 25-20, 19-25, 15-13) to Southern Illinois Edwardsville and 3-1 (25-17, 27-25, 19-25, 25-21) win over USC Upstate in Ben Johnson Arena.

With the split Wofford moved to 7-6 on the season and will return to action Saturday at 12:30 p.m. against Stetson.  

In the team’s first match against SIU-Edwardsville, Wofford turned a 9-9 tie into a 17-10 lead as Bekah Dorsey served six consecutive points and had two service aces.  Rachel Woodlee also had two kills during the stretch.  The Cougars closed the gap to 20-19, but a kill by Amanda Liguori, a Cougar attack error and a Liguori ace pushed the Terrier lead to 23-19.  Wofford finished the set with a 25-21 advantage.

In set two, Wofford had an early three-point lead, but Southern Illinois Edwardsville flipped the lead as they took a 10-7 lead. The Cougars extended the lead to nine, 18-8.  Wofford never got back into the match as Southern Illinois Edwardsville took the set 25-14.

Set two was much of the same story.  The two teams traded points before the Cougars took control of the match with a 16-11 lead.  Wofford would cut the lead to 20-18, but couldn’t take the lead as they fell 25-20.

With the Terriers facing defeat in set four, they broke a 10-10 tie with a 4-1 run to take a 14-11 lead.  The Cougars battled back to tie the set at 16 before a kill by Arden Anderson and back-to-back attack errors by the Cougars gave the Terriers a 19-16 lead.    Wofford never trailed again in the set or relinquished to lead as they won the set 25-19.  Byrd had four kills in the set and Reagan Styles had six digs.

In the decisive set five, the Terriers jumped out to an 8-2 lead.  Catelyn Amende fired off three early kills during the opening points.  However, Southern Illinois rallied with a 8-1 run to tie it up at ten.  Wofford lost the next point, but tied the match up at 11 before the Cougars went on a three-point run to take control of the match with a 14-11 lead.  Southern Illinois Edwardsville won the set 15-13 to take the match win.

Byrd paced the Terriers on offense with 14 kills. She was the only Terrier with double digit kills.  Amende followed with nine kills.  Dorsey had 23 assists and two service aces.  Tara Gough handed out 17 assists in the match, while Styles collected 24 digs.  Amanda Liguori added 15 digs.  Amende led the team with seven block assists, while Anderson and Byrd had five block assists.

In Wofford’s second match of the tournament the Terriers took on neighboring USC Upstate.  Wofford took an early 10-6 lead in the opening set and went on to take the set 25-17.  Wofford outhit Upstate .344 to .100 in set one.  Amende tallied six kills for the Terriers.

In set two, the teams battled closely until the Spartans broke a 10-10 tie to take an 18-14 lead.  Wofford didn’t quit and battled back to tie the match at 23.  The two teams traded the next four points until an Upstate attack error and Byrd kill gave the Terriers the 27-25 win.

Wofford took at early 6-2 set three with hopes of ending the match in three, but the Spartans tied the match at eight with a 4-2 run.  Upstate turned the run into a 12-3 run as they took a 16-11 lead.  The Spartans would win the set 25-19 to force a fourth set.  
Upstate held a .268 hitting percentage compared to Wofford’s .136 hitting percentage in the set.

In the fourth set, Wofford fell behind 8-5, but tied the match at nine two kills by Woodlee, a kill by Liguori and Byrd.  The teams traded points and the match stayed intense, until Wofford broke a 14-14 tie with a 3-0 run.  Liguori, Anderson and Byrd had kills to spark the Terriers.  Wofford held the lead and never let Upstate pull closer than two points as they finished the set and the match with a 25-21 win.

Amende led the Terriers with 15 kills and a .375 hitting percentage.  Byrd added 12 kills, and Liguori had 11 kills and 23 digs for her third double-double of the season.  Her 23 digs was also a career-high for the freshman.  Bekah Dorsey turned in her fifth double-double with a season-high 33 assists and 11 digs.