Volleyball Falls in Four at Catawba Friday Night

SALISBURY, N.C. - The Coker University volleyball team dropped its South Atlantic Conference contest at Catawba College by a score of 3-1 on Friday night (Sept. 20).  

Coker fell in the opening set 25-19 as the Indians pulled away in the set late. The two teams played to a 7-7 tie early on in the opening frame, before Catawba would go on a 7-2 run to go ahead 14-9 and force a Coker timeout. Catawba would go on yet another run to extend their lead to 23-16, before Coker would call a second timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Cobras would go on a three-point run which included kills from Emily Everton and Olivia Cerick. Catawba would take the final two points to claim the opening set. 

 The Indians took the second set by an identical score of 25-19 for a 2-0 lead in the match. The two teams played to an early 3-3 tie in the second set, before Catawba went on an 8-2 run to extend its lead to 11-5. The Cobras would strike back with a 4-3 run to force a Catawba timeout with the score at 14-9. Two kills by Cerick and two Catawba errors were a part of the run. Out of the timeout, The Cobras would get back within three with a 7-5 run to force another Indians timeout, with two kills by Everton and also one kill each from Taylor du Bray and Carson Fuller. Catawba would counter with a 6-3 run to close out the set. 

Coker would respond by winning the third set 25-23 to stave off the sweep. The two teams played to a 7-7 tie, and later ended up knotted at 12-all. The teams would battle back and forth later in the set going point for point, eventually playing to a 23-23 deadlock. Kills by Evertyon and Chelsey Blume would finish off the set for Coker. 

Catawba would take the fourth set by an identical score of 25-23 to take the match 3-1. The Indians jumped out to an 8-3 lead, before the Cobras would hang in the set to stay within four at 14-10. After Catawba went back up by six at 18-10, Coker would storm back to take a brief 19-18 lead with kills from Cerick, Sierra Harvey and Everton during the run. After the teams played to a 20-20 deadlock, Catawba would finish off the set winning five of the final eight points. 

Coker hit .226 in the contest, registering 54 total kills. Everton paced the Cobras with a career-high 20 kills, while Cerick also finished with 12 kills. Harvey (eight), du Bray (seven), Blume (four), Fuller (two) and Rami Mullen (one) also recorded kills for the Cobras on the night. Ashley Carson paced the Cobras with 46 assists on the night, while Cerick posted three assists on the night and Mullen, Payton Jackson and Camryn Tate also each recorded one assist in the match. Du Bray led the Cobras with 16 digs on the night, while Everton and Tate each finished with 14 digs. Carson recorded 13 digs for a double-double, while Cerick posted a double-double with 12 digs on the night. Blume also recorded four digs in the match, while Fuller also registered one. Blume and Everton each recorded two solo blocks, while Harvey also notched one solo block. Blume also posted a team-high four block assists, while Harvey and du Bray each had two block assists in the match. Cerick, Everton, Carson and Jackson each also had one block assist on the night. 

Coker (3-4, 1-3 SAC) will be back in action tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 21) at Queens (N.C.). First serve is set for 2:00 p.m., with video and live stats available at www.cokercobras.com.