Dukes Fall in Five Set Thriller to the College of Charleston

Sunday, October 1

Harrisonburg, Va.

1 p.m.

James Madison University

12-1 (3-1CAA)

College of Charleston

14-4 (3-1CAA)

COFC

James Madison

Dukes Fall in Five Set Thriller to the College of Charleston

10/1/2017 5:20:00 PM | Volleyball

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HARRISONBURG, Va. – The James Madison volleyball team drops its first game of the season after a thrilling five set match against the College of Charleston on Sunday afternoon. The Dukes are 12-1 on the season and 2-1 in Colonial Athletic Association play. The Cougars who were the preseason favorites, are 14-4 and 3-1 in the CAA.

TALE OF THE TAPE
The Dukes lost 3-2, dropping the match by set scores of 25-27, 22-25, 25-21, 25-19, 15-17.

Charleston came out strong, taking the first set, outhitting the Dukes with a .229 hitting percentage to JMU's .176. Each team produced 17 kills across the first set, but errors proved to be the difference as the Dukes had eight to the Cougars six. Charleston didn't slow down as they opened up set two on a 6-0 run, they produced a .450 kill percentage in the second set (18 kills, 6 errors, 40 attempts).

The Dukes proved they weren't going down without a fight as they would win the next two sets. JMU held the Cougars to a .079 hitting percentage in the third set. The Dukes blocking game was a momentum shifter as they tallied six total blocks in set three. In the fourth, JMU again out hit Charleston, with 15 kills, producing a .278 hitting percentage for the set. The tiebreaking set was a back-and-forth battle, but the Dukes fell short as they couldn't come up with the last two points needed to seal the comeback.

MATCH NOTES

Four Dukes produced double-digit kill performances, led by junior Bryn Recker who led the attack with 20.
JMU tallied 21.0 blocks to the Cougars 7.0. M'Kaela White and Sarah Martin led the Dukes with 11 blocks each.
Sophomore Sarah Martin and junior Tilbe Yaglioglu led JMU in assists with 32 and 28, respectively.
Senior Taylor Austin led all players with 28 digs.
JMU produced seven aces to the Cougars one, led by Bryn Recker who had four.
Four Dukes had double-doubles on the afternoon: Bryn Recker (20 kills, 14 digs), M'Kaela White (15 kills, 11 blocks), Taylor Gail (14 kills, 10 blocks) and Sarah Martin (32 assists, 11 blocks).
The Cougars also produced well on the attack as four players had double-digit kill performances, led by Lauren Freed who had 16.

CAREER HIGH AFTERNOON

Sophomore M'Kaela White had another outstanding performance as she set a career high in kills with 15 and in blocks with 11.
Junior Taylor Gail had a career high afternoon with 14 kills in the contest. She also tied her career high in blocks with 10.
Freshman Liv Crawley was strong in the attack as she had 11 kills, setting a new career high.
Sarah Martin also had a career high afternoon, as she tallied 11 total blocks, all of which were block assists.

QUOTING COACH STEINBRECHER
"College of Charleston is a really strong team and you could tell that it was a very evenly matched game. To see our girls fight and go after it was exciting, obviously at the end of the day it comes down to two points and unfortunately we didn't get them today, but I was super proud of the team's effort. I think our blocking was really strong tonight as was a huge momentum changer for us, but the Cougars are a strong team and didn't let it get to them."

UP NEXT
The Dukes head north to face CAA opponents Northeastern and Hofstra. JMU will take on Huskies on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 4 p.m., before heading to Hempstead to take on the Pride on Monday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.