SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Sophomore Rylee Moorhead tied her career-high with 16 kills but the Presbyterian College volleyball team was unable to get past Wofford falling (22-25, 21-25, 25-12, 16-25) on Saturday afternoon at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. Moorhead totaled 16 kills and 13 digs while hitting at a .500 hitting percentage in the contest. Freshman Elyse Hutchinson tallied a career-high 13 kills in the defeat.
FINAL SCORE: Wofford 3, Presbyterian 1
LOCATION: Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium (Spartanburg, S.C.)
RECORDS: Presbyterian (4-8) | Wofford (8-4)
Coach Burgess' Thoughts
"Another solid team effort today, but wasn't quite enough against a really good Wofford squad. We battled point for point in the first two sets and finally fired on all cylinders in the third! We asked Kinsey Bailey to find our middles more in transition and they did a great job terminating. Looking forward to getting better this week in practice and finally starting our conference schedule at home on Thursday night."
How it Happened
- PC jumped out to the early 4-2 edge before the hosts answered with five straight points to get the 7-4 advantage. PC was able to answer the Wofford run with a 6-3 burst of its own to even the set at 10 apiece. Wofford and PC traded point before a 3-0 run allowed the Terriers to push in front 15-12 and cause PC to spend a timeout. The Blue Hose cut the lead down to two, 19-17 and forced the hosts to call a timeout. PC took the lead with a 4-1 burst at 21-20 but the Terriers closed on a 5-1 run to take set one at 25-22.
- The second set started extremely tight as the teams with tied seven times in the early going before the Blue Hose used a 7-3 run to push in front by the score of 14-10 and force the Terriers to take a timeout. The hosts responded with an 8-3 burst to take an 18-17 lead and force the Blue Hose to take a timeout. The Terriers continued to put pressure on the Blue Hose with four of the next six points to make it 22-19 and ultimately take set two 25-21.
- PC raced out to a 7-2 lead in set three behind four kills from Moorhead to force Wofford to use an early timeout. The Blue Hose continued to pressure the hosts in the set with another 6-2 run to force the Terriers to use their second timeout and gave PC the 13-4 lead. The Terriers weren't able to get it closer than 10 in the set as PC forced a fourth set with a commanding 25-12 victory. The Blue Hose hit .393 in the set to push the match to a fourth.
- Wofford jumped out in the fourth set to an early 9-5 lead before PC rattled off three straight to cut the Terrier lead to one, 9-8. The hosts used a 6-1 burst to push the advantage out to 15-9. The Blue Hose were able to cut the lead to three, 17-14 with a 5-2 run. The Terriers closed the set on an 8-2 run to take the match in four sets on Saturday afternoon.
Notables
- Moorhead tallied her second double-double of the weekend and third of the season with 16 kills and 13 digs. She also added an ace while hitting at a .500 clip in the contest.
- She matched her career-high on Saturday with her 16 kills as she hit a career-high .500 against the Terriers.
- Elyse Hutchinson totaled a career-high with 13 kills on 23 swings as the freshman hit at a .478 percentage.
- Kinsey Bailey recorded a career-high with 43 assists to lead the Blue Hose offense. Bailey also added five digs and an ace.
- Bailey became the first Blue Hose since Erin Cooke last October against Radford to total 40+ assists in a match. Cooke had 44 last season against the Highlanders.
- Hutchinson and Moorhead received all-tournament team honors for their efforts this weekend in Spartanburg.
- Hutchinson totaled 33 kills, 10 digs and three blocks for the weekend as she hit .364 in the tournament.
- Moorhead had 37 kills, 39 digs and four blocks for the three matches. The Anderson, S.C. native hit .326 for the three matches.
Up Next
- The Blue Hose now turn their attention to Big South play beginning on Thursday at 6 p.m. when PC plays host to USC Upstate in its league opener before battling High Point the next night at 6 p.m. at the Templeton Center. The USC Upstate match will also serve as PC's home opener.
