Box Score Box Score (pdf)
 
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College volleyball team celebrated the careers of its five seniors and gave UNCG everything it could handle, but ultimately fell, 3-1 (25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23), Saturday night inside Benjamin Johnson Arena.
 
Seniors Wendy Burnett, Tara Gough, Bekah Dorsey, Amanda Liguori and Lucy Reser were all honored during pregame ceremonies. All five seniors started the match and gave one of their best efforts of the season against UNCG (15-12, 8-6 SoCon), one of the top four teams in the Southern Conference.
 
"We played with the most heart and passion we've played with all season, and I'm happy with that," Wofford first-year head coach Ron Sweet said. "I thought our defensive execution was poor tonight. UNCG does have an awesome offense, but their defense was making plays we were not. They got a hand out there and got several of our attacks up, where as we didn't get as many of those plays from our defense.
 
"Our seniors are an awesome group. They are the heart and leadership of this team and we will miss them at the end of this season."
 
Liguori and Burnett put on a show. Liguori tied UNCG's Karrian Chambers with a match-high 17 kills, while Burnett hit .342 with 16 kills and five blocks. Liguori added 18 digs for her 11th double-double of the season and 32nd of her career. Classmate Bekah Dorsey also put down a double-double with 45 assists and 10 digs, marking her 12th of the season and 42nd of her career, leading all active Terriers.
 
Wofford (12-17, 6-8 SoCon) holds on to the eighth spot in the Southern Conference standings, but shares it with Davidson (6-8 SoCon) after the Wildcats defeated league-leading Georgia Southern, 3-2, Saturday afternoon. The Terriers do own the tiebreaker if they end the season tied with Davidson, beating the Wildcats, 3-1, in their only head-to-head meeting on Oct. 19 in Spartanburg.
 
"Right now we are thinking about Chattanooga," said Sweet, who is looking to get the Terriers their first Southern Conference Tournament appearance since 2006. "I'm not thinking about how many we have to win to get in. We just need to win the next game and that is Chattanooga."
 
The Terriers play UTC (3-10) next Friday in Chattanooga, before ending the regular season next Saturday at Samford (10-4). Western Carolina (6-7) is a half-game ahead of Wofford in seventh place, followed by Elon (7-7) in sixth. Wofford also owns the head-to-head tiebreak over both Western Carolina and Elon.
 
As for Saturday night, Wofford got the match started with three seniors touching the ball to put down the first point. Liguori passed the opening serve to Dorsey, who set Burnett's kill to get the Terriers going. UNCG took its first lead at 4-3, and got ahead by as many as six at 17-11 with a block from Olivia Humphries and Vicky Harley. The lead got back to six at 19-13 and 23-17, but Wofford put together a 6-0 run, capped by one of Liguori's set-high five kills, to get back within a point at 23-22. A kill by Chambers and a UNCG attack error made the score 24-23, before Harley put the first set away with her sixth kill.
 
The second set saw Wofford lead most of the way, but give it up down the stretch to give the Spartans a 2-0 advantage in the match. The Terriers scored five of the first seven points and opened up a four-point lead at 10-6. UNCG went on a 7-3 run to tie the score at 13-13, and the Terriers opened it right back up to three by scoring four of the next five for a 17-14 lead. The three-point lead remained intact with the score 21-18, but UNCG scored the next three points and tied the score at 21-all and 22-all. The Spartans then took the lead on a Harley kill. Dorsey was called for a ball-handling error on the next point to give UNCG a chance at the set, and the Spartans capitalized on Jessica Brezwyn's kill.
 
Wofford did not go away quietly. The Terriers got some revenge in the third, taking a set from UNCG which the Spartans led the whole way until Wofford got its first lead at 20-19. Burnett was absolutely unstoppable in the set, putting down nine kills and committing zero errors on 14 swings. The set saw its final tie at 22-all, but this time it was Wofford who would score the final three points on a Burnett kill, Brezwyn attack error and Liguori's closing slam.
 
The fourth saw the most ties and lead changes of any set with 11 ties and five lead changes. The Spartans led through the opening third until the Terriers went ahead at 10-9 and capped off a 7-1 run up by four at 14-10. It was Wofford's biggest lead of the set, but ahead 18-15, the Terriers saw UNCG respond with four straight points to gain a 19-18 lead. Points and momentum shifted back and forth until another set saw a 22-all tie. A UNCG attack error put Wofford ahead 23-22, but UNCG's Morgan Freeman put down a kill to tie the set at 23, and a block by Freeman and Chambers gave UNCG set-and-match point. Off UNCG's serve, Dorsey set freshman Ellie Tallman along the left side, but Tallman's attack attempt clipped the net and sailed out as the Spartans escaped Spartanburg with a victory.
 
Terrier Notes
- Seniors Wendy Burnett, Tara Gough, Bekah Dorsey, Amanda Liguori and Lucy Reser played their final home match inside Benjamin Johnson Arena.
- Liguori posted her 11th double-double of the season with 17 kills and 18 digs.
- Dorsey posted her 12th double-double of the season with 45 assists and 10 digs.
- Burnett had double-figure kills (16) for the 12th time this season, and recorded five-plus blocks for the second time.
- Jessica Graham had 25 digs for the second straight match, marking her 27th double-figure dig match of the season.