Freshmen Lead Clemson Past Charlotte in Tuesday Volleyball Action

Oct. 20, 2009

CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson Volleyball moved back into the win column on Tuesday with a sweep (25-22,25-17,25-22) of Charlotte in Jervey Gymnasium. Clemson moves to 15-6 on the season, while Charlotte drops to 14-9 overall. Natalie Patzin led Clemson with 16 kills, while Alexa Rand, the nation’s eighth-leading hitter, had ten, and Sandra Adeleye notched eight.

Clemson has now won six of its past eight, including five 3-0 victories.

In all, the three freshmen had 34 kills in 63 attempts with only five errors for a .460 mark. Adeleye also added six total blocks. Lia Proctor moved into seventh on Clemson’s all-time attempts list with 29 in tonight’s match. In all, Clemson hit .324 for the match, recording 46 kills against only 12 errors.

Defensively, Didem Ege led Clemson with 17 digs, giving her 2,082 in her career. Ege is fourth in digs in ACC history, and is in a race to set the mark at 2,239. Proctor had nine digs for the second-most in the match. The Tigers held the 49ers to .159 hitting, right at Clemson’s defensive season average, as the Niners had 26 attack errors.

In the first set, Lia Proctor who had four kills in the set. The score was close throughout, but with the score 19-17 in Clemson’s favor, the Tigers went on a 4-1 run to take a 32-19 lead. Charlotte answered with three straight points to pull within one, but Murphy found Adeleye and Proctor for kills to close the set at 25-22.

The Tigers took control in the second set, jumping out to a 11-5 lead behind three team blocks and three Patzin kills. A 4-0 charlotte run closed the gap to two, but Clemson responded with a 4-0 run of their own, behind two more blocks, of which the Tigers tallied five in the set. Adeleye assisted on each of the five blocks, and had two kills as the Tigers took the second set, 25-17.

In the deciding set, The teams traded points for much of the time. There were five tied scores and two lead changes. Clemosn took the lead for good on a Rand kill to make the score 13-12. Patzin had two straight kills to give the Tigers a 23-19 edge, and the Tigers clinched the match on two straight errors from Leah Leventhal.

Clemson returns to action on Friday at 7:00 pm against Duke, who currently sits in second place in the ACC. The Tigers will then play host to Wake Forest on Saturday at 6:00 pm in Clemson’s Dig Pink match.