SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford volleyball team pulled away for a dominant victory in four sets over the preseason Southern Conference favorite ETSU Bucs (4-1, 4-1 SoCon) on Sunday afternoon, seeing three Terriers compile double-digit kills, while swinging a season-high .356 hitting percentage as a team to bounce back into the win column at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
 
After narrowly falling in the first set, 22-25, the Terriers came out spirited for the remainder of the match, nabbing a close second-set victory (25-23) before carrying the momentum over to blitz the Bucs for the final two sets, 25-13, 25-13.
 
The Terriers were firing on all cylinders throughout the match, posting .314 and .333 hitting percentages prior to an insurmountable .500 hitting percentage in the fourth set to close ETSU out. Sophomore Bella Zeman led the Terriers with 19.0 points on the day, recording 16 kills on a career-best .419-percent clip while notching a career-high with three solo blocks.
 
Senior Riley Coonan registered a season and match-high 17 kills, behind a .345 hitting percentage, with a block, while sophomore Kennedy Smith matched career-highs with 14 kills, on a .333 swing percentage, and three service aces. Smith also added six digs and an assist.
 
Freshman Emily Hodsdon matched a career-best 49 assists to pair with seven digs, an ace and a block, as classmate Sarah Barham was on point with an impressive seven kills on a career-best .583 hitting percentage, in addition to contributing three blocks. Abbey Richman tallied a match-high 11 digs on defense along with matching a season-best three assists, as freshman Millie Loehr recorded four blocks and two kills.
 
After a neck-and-neck first set vaulted ETSU to an early advantage, the Terriers climbed back in the second with a resilient effort, as the Bucs looked to come away with a consecutive set victory up 21-15 late in the set. From there, Emily Hodsdon would set up a Kennedy Smith kill that would be the rallying cry for Wofford, extending a 5-0 run to bring the score within one, 21-20. During the run, back-to-back kills from Coonan ensued after Smith's point, prior to rattling the Bucs into a bad set and attack error that brought the deficit to one. The Bucs extended a three-point cushion, 23-20, though, Wofford stunned ETSU to close out the set, as another Coonan point and Smith service ace knotted the match (23-23) before an ETSU attack error set up Coonan's seventh kill of the set to deadlock the match overall with a 25-23 set victory.
 
The third set was all Wofford, shaping into form in opening a 7-3 lead prior to consecutive ETSU attack errors, including a block from Millie Loehr and Sarah Barham, pushing a 10-3 Terriers lead. ETSU found some rhythm in earning six of the following 10 points to reach a 14-9 margin before another set of errors, on solo blocks from Loehr and Bella Zeman, seeing nine total miscues in the frame, then pushed a 17-9 advantage after a Coonan kill. Kills from Zeman and then Barham summoned 10-point spreads, 22-13, as Zeman, Emily Durham and Kennedy Smith then put the Bucs away, 25-13, to go up 2-1.
 
The fourth was all Wofford, tallying 17 total kills in the set, jumping out to an 8-3 lead early on. The Bucs closed in, 9-6, before a Kennedy Smith kill allowed Wofford to rally three straight with Kaitlyn Brown on serve, seeing kills from Hodsdon, Coonan and Smith push a 12-7 lead. A four-point burst that included two Coonan kills and another Smith ace forced an ETSU timeout, up 15-8, as a Zeman swing and Emily Hodsdon ace ensued out of the break to force another Bucs timeout at 19-12. From there, a pair of Zeman kills and another block from the tandem of Millie Loehr and Sarah Barham followed, as two kills from Barham set up match-point prior to ETSU's Sara Esposito concluding the match on an attack error in Wofford's favor, 25-13.
 
The Terriers (3-2, 3-2 SoCon) return back to action on Monday night, hosting ETSU again in Spartanburg for a 5 p.m. match at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.