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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford volleyball team battled the Furman Paladins for over two hours Wednesday evening at Benjamin Johnson Arena, but could not come away victorious and lost its second straight match in five sets, 3-2 (25-21, 24-26, 25-15, 23-25, 15-7).
A missed opportunity to capitalize on a late lead in the first set proved costly. Wofford (5-12, 0-3 SoCon) held a 21-18 advantage, only to see Furman (7-7, 3-0 SoCon) steal the set by scoring the last seven points. The Terriers hung on to win close second and fourth sets, but Furman jumped all over Wofford for a 9-2 lead in set five before going on to take the tiebreak by eight and hand the Terriers their sixth straight defeat.
"I feel this was very similar to Saturday's match," Wofford head coach Ron Sweet said. "Again, I thought we fought really hard. We had a great game plan and we followed it for the most part. It comes down to us making way too many errors at crucial times in the match. Whether it's missed serves, hitting out of bounds or missed blocks, we're just making too many errors at the wrong time.
"As for the first set, we get ourselves caught in certain rotations and we start panicking. The other team scores two or three times in a row and we start thinking we can't get out of it. We have to be mentally strong and somebody has to be determined enough to say 'Give me the ball. I'm putting it away and I'm getting us out of this rotation,' and we just don't have anybody doing that right now.
"We struggled so much in the fifth set because we didn't' believe we could win it."
Furman's Andrea Fisher put down a match-high 20 kills and Christina Dorismond hit .464 (14-1-28) with 14 kills to lead the Paladins to a .273 hitting percentage (57-15-154). Setter Jo Wilks had a match-high 50 assists and Elle Ross went for a match-high 36 digs.
Amanda Liguori led Wofford on the attack. The senior posted a team-high 19 kills, hitting .200 (19-7-60), and combined that with 17 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. Senior Wendy Burnett hit .267 (13-5-30) and junior Taylor Baird matched Burnett's 13 kills but hit just .065 (13-10-46). For the match, the Terriers hit .141 (60-33-191).
Senior Bekah Drosey notched a team-best 48 assists and also had 12 digs for her team-leading seventh double-double of the year. Sophomore Jessica Graham had her sixth 20-plus-dig match, digging out 24 Furman attacks.
The Terriers were beat 12-3 on the block and only had five aces to Furman's six. Heading into the week, Wofford ranked No. 10 in the NCAA in aces per set with 1.82.
A very tight first set saw 11 ties and four lead changes and ultimately cost the Terriers the match. Liguori and Burnett each had five kills in the set and Liguori's third of the night gave Wofford the first clear advantage at 9-6. The score differential then remained within two with ties at 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, until Wofford rattled off three straight points with the help of kills from Burnett and Baird for a 21-18 lead. A Furman kill made it a two-point set and Wilks served out the next six points to help the Paladins steal the opener.
Wofford played from behind through the first half of set two until taking its first lead at 13-12. With the Terriers up 23-20, Furman scored four straight points and looked to be heading to take its second straight set in comeback fashion, but the Terriers pulled it together and scored the final three points. A kill from Burnett and the set closer from Liguori leveled the match, 1-1.
The third set began with Furman jumping out to an 11-6 lead and Wofford only ever got to within three the rest of the way. Ahead 15-12, Furman closed out a 10-point win on a 10-3 run, culminating with Amelia Bohlander's only kill of the set.
The fourth set was much like the second, playing very tight the whole way. Furman took the first edge as Wilks put down a kill for a 6-3 cushion. The lead didn't last long as Wofford tied the match at eight and scored five of the next eight points for a 13-10 lead. The Terriers extended the lead back to three at 18-15, forcing Furman into its first timeout of the set. The stoppage didn't affect the Terriers as they scored the first point out of the timeout and led the rest of the way, taking the set on a Burnett kill.
The fifth was all Furman. The teams split the first two points, but Furman took the next five with Katie Harrell serving for a commanding 6-1 lead. Wofford took a timeout and Liguori put down a kill to get the home team back within four, but it would be as close as the Terriers would get. Furman took its biggest lead of the set at 11-3 and went on to take the tiebreak by eight and stay undefeated in Southern Conference play.
The Wofford volleyball team plays its next four matches on the road, beginning the stretch Saturday at The Citadel. Match time is set for 6 p.m.
Terrier Notes
- Bekah Dorsey posted her seventh double-double of the season and 37th of her career.
- Amanda Liguori posted her sixth double-double of the season and 27th of her career.
- Jessica Graham had more than 20 digs for the sixth time this season.
- Elizabeth Ouzts earned her first collegiate start.
- Wofford's losing streak extended to six. The Terriers have lost five straight SoCon matches dating back to last season.
