Dukes Fall 3-0 at College of Charleston

Friday, October 24

Charleston, S.C.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

12-10, 4-5

College of Charleston

15-9, 7-2

James Madison

CofC

10/24/2014 8:57:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The James Madison volleyball team dropped its first match in almost two weeks on Friday evening, falling 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-18) at College of Charleston to fall to 13-10 (5-5 CAA) on the season.

Sophomore Kate Whitmire (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) knocked down seven kills to lead the Dukes' offense on the evening, while sophomore Janey Goodman (Powhatan, Va./Powhatan) and senior Lizzy Briones (Siloam Springs, Ark/Siloam Springs) each tallied six. Briones also picked up four blocks, her fifth straight match with four or more.

The first set was a back-and-forth affair for the opening points, as the teams traded points until a 7-7 tie, when Charleston used a 4-0 run to take the lead for good. The Dukes battled back, eventually closing the lead to 16-14, but a 9-3 Cougar run would end the set at 25-17.

In the second frame, the Cougars maintained the momentum, taking an 8-3 lead out of the gate. JMU would pull the deficit back to 9-6, but Charleston would pull away for the remainder of the set, going up 2-0 with a 25-11 win.

Charleston kept the momentum through the break, going up 8-3 in the third set. Again the Dukes battled, climbing back to trail 15-11, but could not string enough points together as the Cougars closed out the set and the match at 25-18.

Junior MacKenzie Kleespies (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove) racked up 17 digs on the evening to lead the Dukes, her 13th straight double-digit performance and her 19th this season. Freshman Taylor Austin (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) and junior Meghan Niski (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) picked up 11 and 10 digs, respectively.

The Dukes will be back in action next weekend, when they complete their swing through the Carolinas with matches at UNCW (Fri., Oct. 31, 7 p.m.) and Elon (Sun., Nov. 2, 2 p.m.).