GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Wofford volleyball team saw its 2014 season come to a close in the Southern Conference Tournament quarterfinals, falling to top-seeded Furman in four sets (15-25, 25-23, 22-25, 18-25), Saturday afternoon at UNCG's Fleming Gymnasium.
 
The Terriers entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed, beginning the day at 9:30 a.m. with a first round game against ninth-seeded The Citadel. Wofford was victorious in four (22-25, 25-22, 25-25, 25-18), earning the right to play Furman in the quarters.
 
Wofford's season ends with a 13-22 overall record. The Terriers went 4-12 in Southern Conference play during the regular season.
 
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SoCon First Round – (8) Wofford 3 – (9) The Citadel 1
 
Freshman Bella Santoro matched her season-high of 23 kills and hit .333 to lead the Terriers to a first round victory in four.
 
The Citadel (8-26) came to play. After winning just two sets in SoCon play during the regular season, the Bulldogs used a 10-0 run to win the first 25-22. Rachel Keefer served the run and earned an ace, but six Wofford errors accounted for the majority of the points.
 
The Terriers came from behind to win the second.  After leading the majority of the set, Wofford fell behind 22-21 on one of Lauren Hurt's five kills in the match. Santoro responded with a kill to level the set back up at 22 and went for another to help Wofford score the final four points of the set and level the match.
 
Wofford took control in the third. Six straight points that included two Santoro kills put the Terriers comfortably in front 17-9. Senior Taylor Baird, junior Liz Buterbaugh and freshman Danni Densford joined in to extend the lead, before freshman setter Molly Mayo dumped an attack over the net for a 25-15 set victory and 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The Bulldogs looked for an answer in set four, scoring five of the first six and seven of the first nine points. Wofford clawed back and leveled the score for the first time at 14. It was part of a 9-1 run that resulted in a 19-15 Terrier lead. Santoro polished it off, securing two kills and the match's final point by acing Gracie Barnes.
 
Baird joined Santoro in double figures with 12 kills. Mayo was impressive with 48 assists and seven digs, as was junior libero Jessica Graham with 24 digs and seven assists.
 
Wofford had its best defensive match of the year, posting a season-high 12 blocks. Densford and Baird had five apiece, while Buterbaugh and freshman Alex Holland had four and freshmen Santoro and Alyse High had three.
 
SoCon Quarterfinals – (1) Furman 3 – (8) Wofford 1
 
Heading into the match, Wofford had not taken a set from Furman all season. In fact, the Terriers did little to threaten the Paladins in their most recent meeting, falling 25-16, 25-11, 25-14 on Oct. 29 in Greenville.
 
That's why they play the game.
 
The young Terriers showed a lot promise, laying it all on the table and giving the regular season champions a scare before succumbing in a hard-fought, four-set defeat.
 
Densford tied her season-high with 13 kills and had no attack errors to hit .542. After an impressive first round game against The Citadel, Santoro was limited to 10 kills and 12 attacking errors. She did earn her team-leading 12th double-double with 12 digs, but Furman's block was just too much, coming up with 13 in the match to escape to the semifinals.
 
SoCon Player of the Year Ashton Gregory completed the afternoon with a match-high 17 kills. She hit .536 to lead the Paladin attack to a .203 to .112 advantage in hitting, and was joined in double figures by Annie Bierman's 13 kills.
 
Four Paladins reached double-figure digs. First Team All-Southern Conference selection Andrea Fisher led Furman with 19, but it paled in comparison to Graham. The Wofford libero went for 25 to tally her ninth of the year of 20 or more, completing the final day of her junior year with 49 in eight sets (6.13 per set).
 
Furman led the opening set by one before a 10-3 run gave the No. 1 seed a clear 20-12 advantage. Three different Paladins had a kill in the span, resulting in a Wofford timeout that did little to affect the outcome. Bierman knocked down three straight kills for set point at 24-14 and a Terrier attack error gave the Paladins the one-set lead.
 
Wofford opened some eyes in set two. A Fisher kill made it 15-10 Paladins, but the team of 10 freshmen answered with an 8-2 run that put them in front for the first time at 18-17. Furman leveled the score three times, but never regained a lead. The final tie came at 23 and Wofford's senior right side did the rest, slamming back-to-back kills to level the match and give the Terriers their first set victory over Furman of the season.
 
For the most part, the third was all Furman. It ended with a 25-22 score line as Wofford showed a lot of fight to hang around. The Paladins led 20-13 when it became suddenly interesting. Kills by Mayo and Densford sparked a 5-1 rally, getting Wofford back within striking distance at 21-18. The Terriers continued to hang around as a kill by Buterbaugh brought the margin all the way down to two with Wofford facing set point, 24-22.
 
Furman called time and relied on the conference's player of the year, who ended a long rally with a deflating kill to give her team 2-1 lead.
 
It all but spelled the end. Furman rode the momentum to a 17-8 lead in the fourth. It extended to 10 for the first time at 22-12 before Wofford's final rally cut it as close as 22-17. Fisher planted the final kill, advancing Furman to the semifinals.
 
Postgame Notes:
- Seniors Taylor Baird & Kaitlin Farrisi played in their final games.
- Baird finished her career with 1,190 kills to rank No. 6 all-time.
- Baird played in her 129th career game, breaking the program record.
- Jessica Graham ends her junior season with 1,316 career digs. She sits just 315 shy of the program record after going for 552 this year.
- Molly Mayo completed her freshman campaign with 1,272 assists. It ranks No. 2 all-time in the single-season record books behind Rhea DeJesus' 1,332 from 2004.
- Furman eliminated Wofford in the SoCon quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
- Wofford won its first SoCon Tournament game since 2005, when the eighth-seeded Terriers defeated ninth-seeded Elon in the first round.