University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Gardner-Webb
Volleyball Downs Gardner-Webb for First Conference Win
10.14.2008 | Women's Volleyball
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.?Kelsey Benorden led three UNC Asheville hitters in double-figures as the Bulldogs ended a five-match losing streak with a 25-22, 21-25, 25-15, 25-9 victory at Gardner-Webb on Tuesday night.
Asheville (9-10, 1-5 Big South) continued to get better as the match went on en route to its first Big South victory of the season. Benorden led all players with 16 kills. She added 11 digs for her 10th double-double of the season. Heather Burns had 11 kills, hit .375, and recorded six blocks. Cindi Miller had a solid match on the outside with 11 kills while hitting .273.
“Our block was the difference in the match,” said Asheville Head Coach Julie Torbett. “We made one adjustment to our line-up, we went back to what we were doing three weeks ago, and our block took over in the last sets. It is nice to get a win and hopefully this will get us back on track.”
Gardner-Webb (4-17, 2-5 Big South) was led by Heidi Steinebrunner who had 14 kills and Laura Wilcox who added 10 kills. GWU held a slight 83-80 advantage in digs. Katie Matykowski led all plasyers with 29 digs while Regina Feagin had 16 digs.
Raquel Miotto had 20 digs for Asheville to give 1,632 career digs. She is now just 42 digs shy of moving into second place on Asheville's all-time list. Kaitlyn McDaniel had 15 digs and 21 assists while Bridget Holliday added 10 digs.
Rachel Olivo saw her first significant action of the season and produced with four kills on seven swings for a .571 percentage. Jenna Dover had six kills on 17 swings as Asheville out hit GWU .292-.182.
Sets one and two were both close but the Asheville block took over in the third set. The visiting Bulldogs held an 8-5 blocking advantage and the GWU hitting percentage fell from .375 in the second set to .044 in the third set.
In the final set, Asheville jumped out to a 15-3 lead as the Dogs hit .500 in the fourth set to .027 for Gardner-Webb.
The win was Asheville's first since Sept. 23. The Dogs will go for two straight as they host Charleston Southern on Friday night at the Justice Center. The match will begin at 6 p.m. and will be followed by Jammin at the Justice immediately following. Fans can follow the match with live video on the Big South Edge as well as live stats provided by uncabulldogs.com.
