October 18, 2003

Balanced Furman Offense Upends Lady Mocs

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Furman had five players reach double-digit kills and the Lady Paladins secured a four-game Southern Conference volleyball victory over Chattanooga Saturday night at Maclellan Gym 25-30, 30-26, 30-26, 30-24.

Julia Fredrickson's 19 kills and .417 hitting average paced the Lady Paladins' offense, while Caitlin White and Amber Montague both had 16 kills. Ally Hock finished with 13 kills and Liz Hilliker 10. Jody Steinberger had a season-best 21 kills on a .326 hitting average for UTC, while Kelly Ramsay had 11 and Kelley Smith 10.

Chattanooga (11-10 overall, 6-3 SoCon) took the first game as the Lady Mocs hit .394 as a team and Amanda Durfee had nine of her career-high 20 digs. Furman (13-12, 8-3) rebounded for a game-two victory by winning 10 of the game's final 13 points. Montague and White led the assault by combining for 11 kills. After the break Furman erased a 13-11 UTC lead in the third game by going on a 9-1 spree as Fredrickson got hot. Furman had a six-point lead late, but UTC got no closer than two points the rest of the way. Fredrickson had 10 kills and Hock nine digs in the game.The Lady Paladins jumped to a 20-14 lead in the fourth game and never looked back with a balanced offensive attack.

Hock finished with 25 digs in the game, while Montague had 20, and Hilliker and Rosey Cashman both had 14. Molly Rybak picked up 68 set assists. The Paladins were strong at the net with 14.5 blocks. White was in on seven and Fredrickson had four block assists and two solos.