SPARTANBURG, S.C. – In its first action of the season at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, the Wofford volleyball team made its presence known in collecting a pair of straight-set sweeps over South Carolina State and Gardner-Webb to cap a flawless first day of the Wofford Invitational on Saturday. Wofford put on a dominant offensive showcase in its first match against S.C. State, while using a determined third-set effort against Gardner-Webb to secure a consecutive straight-set victory. The wins move the Terriers to 4-4 overall on the season.
 
MATCH ONE | SOUTH CAROLINA STATE (W – 25-8, 25-10, 25-10)
 
The Terriers were clicking on all cylinders in its first matchup of the day against the Bulldogs, swinging a season-high .431 while holding South Carolina State to -.164 hitting for the match.
 
Junior Bella Zeman led the Terriers with match-best 10 kills on a career-best .714 hitting, with no errors, as sophomore Millie Loehr followed with a season-high seven kills on eight swings (.875).
 
Sophomore Emily Hodsdon put out a balanced effort for the Terriers with 27 assists, four service aces, three kills and four digs to go along with a block, while classmate Sarah Barham chipped in four kills and four blocks. Sophomore Addison Foote added four kills, an ace and a team-high eight digs, as Meghan Yaffa contributed three kills, a block and five digs. Senior Kelly Hubbard finished with three kills.
 
Kennedy Smith finished with two aces and assists apiece, in addition to three digs, while Chasidy Sharpe also added two aces and three digs. Additionally, freshmen Mad Wilson and Sarah MacLean collected their first kills of their careers in the three-set victory, as Wilson registered two while MacLean finished with one.
 
Sophomore Kaitlyn Brown rounds out the Terriers' efforts in the match with two assists and two digs.
 
After playing up to a 7-7 deadlock in the first set, Kelly Hubbard sparked a relentless 9-0 run that would bust the spread out to a 16-7 margin in Wofford's favor. Hubbard put the Terriers on serve, as back-to-back Sarah Barham kills ensued before Zeman would send one home to push an 11-7 lead. Chasidy Sharpe then provided a boost on serve in landing back-to-back aces to force the Bulldogs to burn their first timeout at 13-7. Out of the timeout, errors would plague the Bulldogs, along with another Zeman kill, up until a Wofford service error provided a brief sigh of relief for South Carolina State at 16-8.  Another Zeman kill then put Wofford back in possession, as Emily Hodsdon would run the show on serve in pioneering an 8-0 run, that featured a Hodsdon ace and kills from Zeman, Barham and Meghan Yaffa, to cap the first set at 25-8.
 
Wofford dominated the second set from the start, jumping out to a 8-3 lead before a Bulldogs timeout. The Bulldogs showed fight in tallying four of the following seven points, though, a sneaky Hodsdon kill on a fake set got Wofford back in rhythm at 11-7. From there, Hubbard would find another kill prior to Addison Foote hopping on serve, landing an ace while South Carolina State attack errors would push the margin and force another timeout at 17-8. The errors ensued for the Bulldogs, as Zeman and Foote would collectively put the frame away with late kills to come away, 25-10, in the second.
 
The third set would prove to be all Wofford again, extending a 7-2 lead early on after a Millie Loehr kill and Kennedy Smith ace. Kills from Foote and Sarah MacLean pushed the advantage (12-4) before another Hodsdon kill sparked a brief 5-0 run to push the lead to double digits at 20-7. Coming out of a Bulldogs timeout, another Loehr kill continued the momentum as another Smith ace pushed set point prior to Mad Wilson slamming home the match-clincher for the win, 25-10.
 
 
MATCH TWO | GARDNER-WEBB (W – 25-21, 25-23, 25-9)
 
Having come off a five-set battle with North Alabama prior, the Runnin' Bulldogs gave the Terriers a worthy clash through the first two sets, though, Gardner-Webb would run out of steam in the third at the hands of a deep and balanced Wofford attack.
 
Yaffa led the squad with eight kills, two aces and four blocks and digs apiece in Wofford's second match, followed by Sarah Barham with six kills, six blocks and a dig. Junior Emory Wyatt turned in an impressive performance, recording a season-high five kills along with a career-best five blocks, as Hodsdon followed up another strong outing with 26 assists, five kills on six swings (.833), two blocks, an ace and eight digs.
 
Bella Zeman added four kills and a block. Addison Foote contributed four kills, two assists, a block and three digs, as Kennedy Smith added two kills, two assists and two digs. Abbey Richman led the defensive efforts with a team-high nine digs in the victory.
 
Wofford was solid on both sides of the net for the most part, hitting .268 offensively while holding the Runnin' Bulldogs to an .029 outing. The Terriers were effective at the net with 13 blocks in the match, in addition to limiting excessive unforced errors offensively for the match.
 
Errors proved costly for Gardner-Webb throughout pivotal moments of the match, using late pushes over the first two sets to come within striking distance, though, steady efforts from the Terriers managed to hold off the Runnin' Bulldogs, 25-21 and 25-23.
 
By the third set, Wofford was able to take advantage of its depth at the hands of a fatigued Gardner-Webb squad, as the Runnin' Bulldogs burned both of its timeouts not even halfway through the final stanza to see Wofford capitalize in blitzing them over the final half of the set for the 25-9 decision on .429 hitting for the frame.
 
The Wofford Invitational concludes tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 12, as Wofford (4-4) hosts North Alabama at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium for an 11 a.m. matchup, followed by Gardner-Webb and South Carolina State capping the tournament with a 2 p.m. neutral site match.