University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Liberty
Liberty Downs Asheville In Big South Opener - UNC Asheville Bulldogs Official Athletics Site
01.01.1970 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 16, 2004
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The fifth seeded Liberty Flames survived a UNC Asheville comeback in game one and went on to upset the fourth seeded Bulldogs 31-29, 30-16, 30-25 at the Justice Center in the first round of the Big South Conference Volleyball Tournament presented by HomeTrust Bank on Tuesday.
Liberty (12-18) has won 10 of its last 12 matches. The Flames jumped out to a 25-17 lead in the opening game before UNC Asheville (19-17) began its comeback. The Bulldogs forced Liberty timeouts at 27-23 and 29-28. UNCA tied the game at 29 on a kill by Allison Lambert who finished the night with 10 kills. Liberty never relinquished the lead as Tiffany Thoreson sided out to give the Flames game point and then recorded a kill off the block to give Liberty the 31-29 victory. Thoreson finished the match with 12 kills, seven of them in the opening game.
"Being on the road, it was important to get on top," said Liberty Head Coach Shane Pinder. "With the environment here it was pivotal to pull out that first game."
Jennifer Belk led the Flames with 16 kills while Becky Rudnick added 15 kills and .444 attack percentage. In game two, Liberty did not commit an attack error recording a .640 percentage. Asheville, on the other hand, committed 12 errors and hit .067 in game two.
"Liberty played one of the best matches I've seen this year. They played just great on offense and defense," said UNCA Head Coach Julie Torbet. "There were some long rallies and they got some key points off those long rallies. In the second game, Liberty played about as perfect as you can play. They didn't make a hitting error in the game and that's hard to beat."
The third game was even throughout. With the game tied at 12, Liberty went on 7-1 run to force an Asheville timeout at 19-13. The Flames continued to side out effectively and never allowed the Bulldogs to make a serious run winning 30-25.
"Liberty is a very experienced team with seniors that have played in a lot of big matches. They're playing very well right now. We had a great crowd tonight and had a lot of support. We battled back in the third game but just couldn't get past them," said Torbet.
Elif Unlu led Asheville with 12 kills and 16 digs. Liberty held the advantage in blocking 9.5 to 5 and in digs 65-56. Lara Bartolomeo had a match-high 29 digs for the Flames.
Asheville's season comes to end as the Bulldogs posted their third-straight winning season. Liberty returns to Asheville for the semifinals where it will face top-seeded Winthrop at 2 p.m.
"Winthrop is well balanced; it is going to come down to blocking and making plays. We are really going to have to block well but we have seen teams as big and as athletic as they are so hopefully our pre-conference schedule will help us," said Pinder.
