SPORTS
Volleyball Takes Down Western Carolina, Wins 2021 Wildcat Classic
Senior Hattie Rodriguez was name MVP of the tournament.
DAVIDSON, N.C. — With a 3-1 victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts on Saturday evening, the Davidson volleyball team improved to 2-0 on the young season and clinched the 2021 Wildcat Classic title.
Senior Hattie Rodriguez was named the tournament’s MVP, after combining for 38 kills, 4.5 points per set and a .276 attacking percentage on the weekend. Bella Brady and Sola Omonije were also named to the All-Tournament Team, as the sophomore libero totaled 49 digs and middle blocker Omonije tallied a .432 attack percentage and eight total blocks.
Sophomore Sola Omonije goes way up to send this one back over the net.
Xuan Nguyen and Jessie Doyal co-anchored the Davidson offense for the second straight night, as Nguyen led the way with 26 assists and Doyal was right behind with 23 dishes of her own. The setting duo paced the ‘Cats to hit .278 as a team, marking the best offensive performance for the program since the team’s season opener last spring, against Jacksonville on Jan. 22, 2021 (.367).
Western Carolina played neck-and-neck with the Wildcats all night, stealing the second set from Davidson and forcing the ‘Cats to win it in four.
Opening up the first set, which proved to be a back-and-forth affair, Davidson recorded 22 kills and four errors (.353) to the Catamounts’ 18 kills and five errors (.295) that ultimately edged out the visitors in a 29-27 overtime set win. As the Catamounts stole set two, thanks to two lengthy service runs, the Wildcats’ offense responded to close out the night with two more set victories.