University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
TCU
TCU Sweeps UNC Asheville in Volleyball Opener
08.24.2007 | Women's Volleyball
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Texas Christian University used a strong hitting game to sweep UNC Asheville 30-7, 30-27, 30-22 in the opening game of the FSU Invitational hosted by Florida State on Friday.
Lauren Otto led the Horned Frogs (1-0) with a match-high 10 kills while Kourtney Edwards chipped in eight kills. TCU had seven blocks in the match led by LeMeita Smith who had four blocks to go along with seven kills.
Senior Ashley Wrightenberry led the UNC Asheville (0-1) attack with seven kills on 20 swings for a .350 attack percentage. Lauren Ficker and Alysha Greer each had five kills while Rachel Guinane and Kelsey Benorden added four kills each. Benorden led the team with 12 digs while Raquel Miotto had nine digs before leaving the match at the beginning of the third game.
TCU hit .417 in the opening game and jumping out to an early 7-0 lead. The Frogs used a 10-0 run to take an 18-3 lead and cruised to the victory holding UNC Asheville to a -.057 attack percentage.
"I am pleased with the way our team bounced back after the first game," said Asheville head coach Julie Torbett." "We did not pass well enough but once we got our feet under us we played much better in games two and three. I thought we blocked well considering TCU's height advantage."
Game two was the closest game of the match. TCU jumped out to an 8-3 lead but Asheville rallied to tie the game at 14. The second game saw 10 ties and 10 lead changes. With the game tied at 25, the Bulldogs scored back-to-back points on a kill by Benorden and a Horned Frog attack error to go up 27-25. TCU responded with two points to tie the game at 27. Back-to-back blocks gave TCU game point and the eventual 30-27 victory
In the third game, after being tied at 2-2, TCU used a 6-1 run to take an 8-3 lead. The Bulldogs bounced back with a run to pull to 9-8. The Frogs scored four of the next five points to lead 13-9, but once again Asheville closed the gap to 18-17. TCU went on one final 10-3 run to put the game away with a 30-22 victory.
TCU out-hit Asheville .210 to .052 in the match and out-dug the Bulldogs 60 to 51. Calli Corley led all players with 19 digs in the match while teammate Loren Barry added 16 digs for the Frogs who will play Florida Gulf Coast later on tonight.
"We had too many mistakes today in the serving game. Of our seven service errors, four were in the second game when we had a chance to win. TCU is a very good team and served tough but I think we are better than what we showed today," said Torbett.
UNC Asheville will play Florida State on Saturday at 10 a.m. in a match that can be seen on the internet by going through the Florida State website at www.seminoles.com.
