University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Winthrop
Volleyball Falls to Winthrop 3-1
10.06.2007 | Women's Volleyball
ASHEVILLE, N.C.? Kelsey Benorden recorded her seventh-straight double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs but Winthrop used a balanced attack to defeat UNC Asheville 30-28, 25-30, 30-23, 30-20 at the Justice Center Saturday afternoon.
Winthrop (9-9, 4-0 Big South) placed four players in double-figures in kills. Kellie Sellers and Shannon Sitzmann each had 16 kills. Sellers added 13 digs for the double-double. Kelley Taylor had 13 kills and Kaley Viola added 13 kills off the bench for the Eagles. Pohai Nu'uheiwa had a match-high 27 digs.
Benorden and Lauren Ficker led the UNC Asheville (6-15, 0-4 Big South) attack. Ficker had 10 kills and three blocks. Ashley Wrightenberry and Heather Burns each had eight kills. Wrightenberry had eight blocks as the Dogs out-blocked the Eagles 12-9.
The teams split the first two games as neither team could get their attack going. Asheville had five blocks in game one forcing 11 Winthrop hitting errors. Their were eight ties in the opener with the last one coming at 22-22. Winthrop went on a 5-1 run to take a 27-23 lead, Asheville then scored three-straight points to make the score 27-26 and force an Eagle timeout. Winthrop had game point at 29-28 when Taylor put down the final point to give the Eagles the win despite hitting just .125 in the opener.
Asheville jumped out to a 15-10 lead in the second game again using its block as a catalyst and forcing 11 more Winthrop attack errors. The Dogs built their largest lead at 23-15 and held on for the 30-25 win to tie the match.
The Dogs continued their strong play to begin game three. Both teams began to sideout more consistently but Asheville held a 17-14 lead mid way through the game. Winthrop went on its largest run out-scoring the Dogs 16-6 to close out the game.
After making 22 hitting errors in the first two games, the Eagles made six errors and hit .372 in the final two games. Winthrop sided-out on 76 percent of its chances in game four and with an 11-10 lead, the Eagles went on a 14-5 run to take control of the final game.
Raquel Miotto had 26 digs to lead the Dogs defensively while Winthrop setter Kelsey Hall just missed a triple-double with eight kills, 11 digs, and 57 assists.
Both teams are off until Friday, Oct. 12, when Winthrop will travel to Charleston Southern and UNC Asheville will travel to Radford. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.
