JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 14, 2023) – The ETSU volleyball team battled one of the last three remaining unbeaten teams in the nation on Saturday night at Brooks Gym but ultimately fell to The Citadel in three sets (27-25, 25-16, 27-25).
Stat Standouts – Brianna Cantrell was the lone Buccaneer to in score double digits on Saturday with nine kills and an ace.
Malgorzata Andersohn continued to rack up the double-doubles this season with 22 assists and 11 digs to go with a pair of aces, while
Melanie Morris finished tied for the team-lead in digs with Andersohn with 11.
Set 1 – Fresh off its three-set win against Wofford on Friday, ETSU came out swinging on Saturday against the first-place Bulldogs.
Isabelle Iosua totaled five kills on nine tries and Cantrell added four kills of her own to pace the Buccaneer offense. The Citadel and ETSU were tied at 11 different points. A kill from
Abbey Thomas gave the Bucs an opportunity to claim the first set, 24-23. However, the Bulldogs rallied to score four of the next five points to go up 1-0 on the Bucs, 27-25.
Set 2 – The Buccaneer offense struggled to find its rhythm in the second frame. ETSU committed more attack errors (10) than it had kills (eight). The Citadel took full advantage of these misfires from ETSU as it won the second frame easily, 25-16.
Set 3 – The third stanza proved to be another competitive one between the Bucs and Bulldogs. Both teams totaled 19 kills in what proved to be the final frame.
Amanda Lowe totaled five kills, while
Jenna Forster and
Kali Walker each added four. However, The Citadel was a little more efficient on attack out-hitting the Bucs (.439 to .250). Even with the disparity of hitting accuracy, The Citadel needed three different set points to eventually finish off its 20
th win of the season, 27-25.
Next Up – The Buccaneers, now 2-17 overall and 2-6 in SoCon play, will begin the second half of conference play on Thursday when they travel to take on Furman. The Paladins upended ETSU in five sets late last month at Brooks Gym. First serve for that match is set for 7 p.m.
For more information on Buccaneer volleyball, visit
ETSUBucs.com and click on the volleyball tab.
