DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Charleston Southern’s woman’s volleyball team (5-4) left the 2025 Bash and the Beach with a win 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-19) over the South Carolina State Bulldogs at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach September 12-13.
The Buccaneers finished the weekend with two wins and one loss. Head coach Carry Brown‘s Buccaneers picked up their fifth win of the season and 63rd all-time victory over the SC State Bulldogs. “This weekend provided us with plenty of learning opportunities… The girls are discovering more about their capabilities and growing in confidence. I’m pleased with our 2-1 finish. It’s a solid step forward and great preparation for our upcoming matches and conference play,” said Brown.
There were 15 tie scores in the game and seven lead changes. Charleston very seldom lost the lead in all three sets.
Skylar Yates led the way in kills with 11. She added two aces to move to 6th all-time in career service aces in CSU program history (112 aces) after the weekend. She also had eight digs and one assist.
Southern had 37 assists with Tristin Sutton leading with 16 assists and Cara McLean following with 13. In digs, Charleston had 50 with Presley Morris leading the team with 19.
Game 2
In game two of the weekend, the Buccaneers pulled out a tough 3-2 win over host Bethune-Cookman (21-15, 15-19, 15-21, 23-25, 18-16). Bethune led the entire first set, Charleston took the lead early in the second set and never lost control. In the last three sets, there were 12 lead changes and 23 tie scores.
Yates led in attacks with 19. Olivia Durka had 18. Sutton had 35 assists while Cara McLean had 22. Morris led in digs with 23. Presley led with two aces while Yates, McLean and Emerson Reiter had two each.
Game 3
In game one with Jacksonville, the Buccaneers lost 3-1 (25-12, 21-25, 25-23, 25-16). Morris had 21 digs in the game.
Naya Martinez got on the board for the first time in the day with two digs. Yates had a solid day with 12 attacks. Sutton had 18 assists and McLean had 13. Of the nine team aces, Emma Bednarek got on the board. There were five lead changes in four matches.
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Anderson University Women’s Volleyball
VALDOSTA, Ga.—The Anderson woman’s volleyball team dominated the first two games at the Valdosta State Fall Tournament Sept. 12 with two wins against Shorter University 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-21) and against Georgia College 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-19).
“When we look back at today’s play, three things stand out,” head coach Todd Hay said. “First, our kills per set is steadily climbing which is good to see. Secondly, our ace to error ratio was in the positive numbers both matches. Third, our set distribution by our setters was balanced and effective. Hopefully these trends will continue tomorrow against a very good Palm Beach Atlantic squad.”
Against Shorter, Anderson came out strong and never looked back. As a team, they had 64 diffs, 42 assists, four aces and 43 kills. Jacey Olsen led the Trojans with 10 kills. Symone Wyatt had nine. In assists, Mia Bennett led with 17 while Ellie Nieporte had 16. Nieporte, Sophie Deese, Emily Campbell and Bennett each had one ace. In Digs, Jamie Juhnevicz had 20 while Mikaylah Hedlund had 13.
AU Beats Georgia College
Against Georgia College, it was another domination. Anderson had 55 kills with Hedlupnd leading with 15 while Mia Elder had 12. In assists, Nieporte had 22. Bennett had 18 to finish the top two. Among the 67 Anderson digs, leading the way Juhnevicz had 18 while Deese and 11 and Hedlund had 10.
Palm Beach Atlantic Bests AU in Final Match
Anderson lost to Palm Beach Atlantic 3-1 (24-26, 25-27, 25-22, 23-25) in its final match of the Valdosta State Fall Tournament Sept. 13.
The first two sets were very close finishes with Palm Beach coming out on top. Anderson battled back in the third set, but feel short in the final set.
“We competed well from an effort standpoint but lack execution from time to time in critical moments,” head coach Todd Hay said. “As we discussed after the match, a lot of what caused us to drop this match does not appear on the stat sheet. Communication, floor positioning, serve location, set choice/location, and hitting decisions all contribute to missed opportunities or leaked points. I’m encouraged with our offensive numbers but need to clean up some of those fundamentals and nuances of sport that contribute to winning.”
Anderson had 57 kills in the game with Hedlund having 15 of them. Ava Reeves had 12 and Campbell had 11 to round out the top three. Nieporte led with 23 attacks while Bennett followed with 21. Anderson had 96 digs with Hedlund have 19, Nieporte, Bennett and Juhnevicz having 12 each. Deese had 11.
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Augusta University 3, NGU 1
AIKEN, S.C.—The North Greenville women’s volleyball team had a solid opening set, but dropped the last three sets against Augusta University Sept. 12 to lose 3-1.
The first set was all North Greenville 25-14, then Augusta took the final three 25-15, 26-24 and 26-24.
The Trailblazers had 49 kills with 15 coming from Samantha Ball. Anna Fiddelke and Reagan Funderburk and Payton Taylor had eight each. Allison Ball led the way with 29 attacks of the 43 total. Haley Freeman had three aces. Greenville had 67 digs with Macie Gentry had 21 digs while Samantha Ball had 16.
USC Aiken 3, NGU 1
Against USC Aiken, Greenville fell 3-1 (18-25, 25-22, 14-25, 14-25). Greenville had 64 digs in the game with Paeyton Taylor leading with 13. Ball had 33 assists in the game. She also led with kills with 9. Ellenor Crimmins got on the stat board with seven digs and an assist.
Carson Newman 3, NGU 1
Against Carson Newman on September 13, North Greenville lost 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-17). For North Greenville, topped the dig stat board was Samantha Ball with 16.
Freeman had 10 kills and 10 digs. Madison Sherman had a solid day with 12 assists. Ball had 26 assists to lead that category.