Box Score CULLOWHEE, N.C.  – The Wofford volleyball team, the No. 4 seed, pulled off a close five set win over the fifth-seeded Samford Bulldogs on Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Conference tournament. With the win, the Terriers advance to the semifinals for the first time in program history.
 
Wofford, who set the program record for wins in the Division I record three matches ago, has now won three in a row and continues to add to the record. The Terriers are now 21-10 on the season after knocking off Samford, the 2016 SoCon tournament champs. Wofford finished the SoCon regular season 10-6.  
 
"The tournament is a new level of intensity," said head coach Lynze Roos. "I'm very pleased that we handled the pressure and performed well down the stretch. Samford is a great team with a lot of experience winning in the postseason, and it's a big confidence boost to get this win against a solid team."
 
Wofford dropped the opening set, 25-18, but rallied to win the next two, 25-22 and 25-20, respectively, to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Samford wouldn't be denied and fought back to win the fourth set 25-23 to force a decisive fifth set. Samford won the first point of the fifth set, but Wofford evened it up with a kill by Colleen Reilly and wouldn't trail again in the set, hitting .524 in the final set and holding on for a 15-11 fifth set win. Overall, the match saw 29 ties and eight lead changes.
 
Catie Cronister, the Southern Conference Co-Player of the Year, led Wofford and tied for the match high with 23 kills. She added 16 digs to record her 13^th double-double of the year. The native of Chicago has double-digit kills in 28 of Wofford's 31 matches and 20+ kills in 12 matches this season. The sophomore hit .203 and also had four block assists to help at the net.
 
"Catie was really great on serve receive and she took she some great, aggressive swings down to the wire," noted Roos. "She also had some key blocks to stop Samford's great offense."
 
Colleen Reilly, a First Team All-SoCon selection, followed with 16 kills and hit a team high .462. The hitting percentage was her highest since the last meeting with Samford on Oct. 20.
 
"Colleen was a force at the net," said Roos. "She scored for us at some key times and we fed off her momentum."
 
Kara Shacklette and Riley Coonan each finished with 10 kills. Shacklette hit .389 while Coonan, an All-Freshman team member, hit .207.
 
"It was great when we found Kara in system," said Roos. "She can be a lethal weapon for us. Riley delivered some big swings for us when we needed her to and she said up some strong blocking, too."
 
Taylor Gill recorded 33 digs, her second consecutive match with 30+ digs, and 16 more than any other play in the match. Gill, the SoCon Defensive Player of the Week for the final week of the regular season, also had five assists and one service ace.
 
"Taylor stepped up with great defense and allowed us to stay in some long rallies," added Roos.
 
Lorissa King, Wofford's sophomore setter, tallied a match high 59 assists. She added 11 digs to record her fifth double-double of the year and Wofford's second of the match.
 
"Lorissa was able to find some solid matchups and played with some great spunk on defense," said Roos.
 
Statistically, the teams were nearly identical. Wofford hit .229 and Samford hit .231. Wofford forced 12 service errors from the Bulldogs, though both teams had four aces.
 
Wofford will play No. 1 Furman on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. The Paladins beat No. 8 Mercer, 3-1, in the quarterfinals.