ATLANTA, Ga. - Catie Cronister recorded her 1,000th career kill as the Wofford volleyball team split the opening day of the Hyatt Regency Tournament, defeating Tulane in four sets but falling to Georgia Tech in five on Thursday.
Wofford downed Tulane in the first match of the day (25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 25-20) on Thursday morning, before falling to Georgia Tech in five sets (10-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-13, 10-15) on Thursday night.
Cronister and Colleen Reilly each recorded 26 kills in the two matches, with Bijonae Jones totaling 22. Defensively, Taylor Gill led the Terriers with 47 digs in the two matches, 30 coming against Georgia Tech.
After trailing by two in the first match, Wofford reeled off five-straight points to take a 19-16 lead. Tulane would answer with a trio of scores, tying the game at 19-19. After a Lynze Roos timeout, Reilly blasted a pair of kills to give the Terriers a two-point advantage, setting up a Cronister kill to seal the 25-22 victory.
In set number two, the Terriers battled back from a five-point deficit, knotting the score up at 18-18 after a Reilly kill. After the two sides traded points, Wofford took six of the last nine points to claim another 25-22 set win.
With the two sides tied at 19-19 in the third set, it was the Golden Wave's turn to go on a run, taking five of the next six points to force a fourth set.
Fending off a charging Tulane, Cronister rose up and smashed her 1,000th career kill to give the Terriers a three-point lead. The Golden Wave responded by taking a 20-19 advantage, prompting a Wofford timeout. The team responded in a big way after the break, taking the next six points to claim its second victory of the year.
"Tulane has a tough middle attack that we had to adjust to," Roos said. "I was really pleased with how our middles made some better reads and earned some key blocks down the stretch. Both Kara (Shacklette) and Colleen (Reilly) attacked strong and Taylor Gill was outstanding in the backcourt."
Cronister, who set a program-record 556 kills in 2017, became just the 12th Terrier to eclipse the 1,000 mark for her career, totaling 12 against Tulane.
"Catie is a player who shies away from the personal accolades and is quick to credit her teammates for the assists or the digs," said Roos. "1,000 kills is a big deal and she's powered us to a lot of wins ever since she started as a freshman. She's even more poised and focused now, so I'm excited to see her add to that thousand."
In the second match, Georgia Tech came out of the gates firing, ripping off a 10-0 run to take a commanding 12-2 lead, ultimately taking the set 25-10. In the second set, the Terriers matched the Yellow Jackets point-for-point, taking a 20-18 lead after a trio of kills from Cronister, Jones and Kelly Bossert. Clinging to a 24-23 lead, Reilly recorded a kill to even the match at one set apiece.
Wofford and Georgia Tech found themselves knotted up at 23-23 when the Yellow Jackets sent home a pair of kills to take the third set. The Terriers blitzed Georgia Tech in the fourth set, jumping out to a 9-0 lead and never looking back, forcing a decisive fifth set.
In the fifth and final set, Wofford held a 4-3 lead early but Georgia Tech would score five of the next six points to take a lead it would not relinquish. The Yellow Jackets clinched the match in the same fashion in which they took the lead, taking five of six points to earn the victory.
"We did some exciting things playing against one of the larger blocks and faster offenses that we have seen this year in Georgia Tech," Roos said. "There were some parts of our game that we wanted to improve on from last weekend and I think we saw that tonight. It's never easy to be on the short end of a five setter, but I trust that we will learn from this one."
The Terriers return to the court on Friday, facing Alabama State at 2 p.m. before a quick turnaround with a 4:30 p.m. tilt against University of South Alabama.
