Multiple Bulldogs Record Career Highs in Five-Set Thriller Against WCU

Saturday, October 31

Charleston, S.C.

2:00 PM

The Citadel

4-22,1-13SoCon

Western Carolina

11-16,7-7SoCon

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Western Caro.	23	25	25	27	16	3
The Citadel	25	15	23	29	14	2

10/31/2026 6:01:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: The Citadel Athletics

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Citadel (4-22, 1-13 SoCon) battled Western Carolina (11-16, 7-7 SoCon) in a five-set thriller before falling 3-2 (25-23, 15-25, 23-25, 29-27, 14-16) on Saturday at McAlister Field House. The Bulldogs finished with 71 kills and a .227 hitting percentage while Western Carolina totaled 77 kills and hit .308. The Citadel held a 10-4 advantage in service aces and an 8-5 edge in total blocks.

Rachel Reininger led the Bulldogs with 22 kills and added three digs. Luci Lippelgoos recorded a career-high-15 kills on a .542 hitting percentage, three service aces and four digs. Allie Davison finished with a career-high 58 assists, 12 digs, three service aces and two block assists. Jess Martin anchored the defense with a career-high 28 digs, four assists and two service aces. Elizabeth Miller added 10 kills while hitting .308 and recorded a team-high six total blocks.

Tatum Sharp led Western Carolina with 30 kills on a .448 hitting percentage and added two block assists. Zoe Zudans finished with 19 kills while hitting .320. Ashlyn Cobb recorded 17 kills, 25 digs and one service ace. Katie Boney directed the offense with 68 assists and 13 digs while Elise Gurley collected 28 digs and two service aces.

"When you look at those scores, it doesn't get much tighter than that, with four sets decided by two points and a couple going into extra points," Zelenock said. "As I've said before, the fact that we have freshmen out there taking big swings and taking risks late in matches like this is only going to help us down the road. We can teach skills and work on improvements, but we can't teach guts, and that's what this team has."

First Set | 25-23
·       The Bulldogs opened the match with a 4-2 advantage following a service ace from Lippelgoos before Western Carolina answered to take a 9-6 lead.
·       Martin recorded back-to-back service aces to give The Citadel a 10-9 lead. The teams continued trading points before consecutive kills from Jordyn Sims and Emma Pastusic put the Bulldogs ahead 19-17.
·       Reininger recorded a kill, followed by a Miller kill and a Lippelgoos service ace, to extend the lead to 23-19. Western Carolina cut the deficit to 24-23 before Reininger closed the set with a kill.

Second Set | 15-25
·       The Citadel started strong with five unanswered points, highlighted by two kills from Reininger, a kill from Miller and a service ace from Lippelgoos.
·       Western Carolina rallied to tie the set at 8-8 before the teams exchanged points. A kill from Gwen Berry gave the Bulldogs a 13-12 advantage.
·       The Catamounts responded with four consecutive points to take a 16-13 lead before extending their advantage to 24-14. Western Carolina secured the set 25-15 to even the match at 1-1.

Third Set | 23-25
·       The Bulldogs and Catamounts traded points early before a pair of blocks involving Sims, Lippelgoos, Miller and Davison helped The Citadel build a 12-10 lead.
·       A service ace from Megan Stone and consecutive kills from Lippelgoos extended the advantage to 17-14.
·       Western Carolina rallied to take a 19-18 lead, but Reininger responded with multiple kills to keep the Bulldogs in contention. A Sims kill gave The Citadel a 23-22 lead before the Catamounts scored the final three points to claim the set.

Fourth Set | 29-27
·       Western Carolina jumped ahead 3-0 before The Citadel responded. Three consecutive kills from Cameron Reese helped the Bulldogs build a 12-8 advantage.
·       The Catamounts rallied for a 19-15 lead, but the Bulldogs answered with five straight points, highlighted by three blocks and a service ace from Davison, to move ahead 20-19.
·       Reese tied the set at 24-24 with a kill, and Lippelgoos followed with a kill to even the score at 25-25.
·       Reininger recorded three kills during the closing stretch before Davison delivered the set-winning service ace to force a fifth set.

Fifth Set | 14-16
·       The teams traded points early before consecutive kills from Reese and Lippelgoos gave The Citadel an 8-6 advantage.
·       Reese added another kill, followed by a Western Carolina attack error and a service ace from Emerson Hill, to extend the Bulldogs' lead to 11-8.
·       The Citadel held a 13-10 advantage before Western Carolina scored four consecutive points to take a 14-13 lead. A Catamount service error tied the set at 14-14, but Western Carolina answered with back-to-back kills to secure the five-set victory.

Up Next
The Citadel travels to Johnson City, Tenn., for a pair of Southern Conference matches against ETSU on Nov. 5-6. The Bulldogs face the Buccaneers at 6 p.m. Thursday before closing the series at 11 a.m. Friday inside Brooks Gymnasium. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.

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