University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Presbyterian
Win Streak Reaches Six as Volleyball Comes Back to Defeat Presbyterian in Five Sets
11.11.2008 | Women's Volleyball
CLINTON, S.C.?UNC Asheville came back from a 0-2 deficit by winning the final three sets for its sixth-straight victory 22-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-12 at Presbyterian on Tuesday night.
Kelsey Benorden led the way with her 16th double-double of the season. She had 16 kills and 12 digs while Cindi Miller had 13 kills. Heather Burns and Kaitlyn McDaniel each had eight kills on the match. Raquel Miotto recorded a match-high 32 digs giving her five matches this season with at least 30 digs. Miotto leads the Big South with 580 digs this season which is two shy of her 2007 total which is good for fifth place on Asheville's single season list.
The Bulldogs move to 16-11 overall guaranteeing a winning record for the first time since 2005 and are now 8-6 in conference having avenged five of their six losses from the first trip around the conference. The only conference team Asheville has not beaten is Coastal Carolina whom the Dogs will face on Friday.
Presbyterian (10-18, 6-8 Big South) had four hitters with at least 10 kills led by Lisa Shelly and Heather Swain who each had 15 kills. Shelly added 21 digs while Kelsey McKee had 14 kills and Justine Lanchester had 10 kills.
“It is always good to win on the road in conference,” said Asheville head coach Julie Torbett. “It wasn't a pretty match. PC is a very scrappy team and I thought we were scrappy as well. Neither team hit the ball very well but we fought through a tough start and pulled out an important win.”
Asheville had leads in each of the first two sets but Presbyterian was able to come back and win both to take a 2-0 lead at the intermission. The Dogs have only won one other match where they were down 2-0 and that was at UNC Wilmington on Sept. 20.
The comeback began with a convincing victory in set three where the Dogs out-hit the Blue Hose .216-.000 forcing 12 PC attack errors. Set four was close throughout. Tied 19-19, Asheville went on a 4-0 run to build a 23-19 lead. The Dogs got a kill from Miller on set point to force a deciding fifth set.
Asheville has played more five set matches than anyone in the country. The Bulldogs have had 13 of their 27 matches this season go to five sets and Dogs have an 8-5 record in those matches. On Tuesday, the Dogs led throughout the fifth set changing sides with an 8-5 lead. Asheville held the three point edge until match point at 14-11. A kills by Swain made it 14-12 before the Dogs won the final point.
Asheville's Lauren Ficker played in three of the five sets in her first action since an injury on October 4. She had six kills and a block while hitting .235 in the match.
Both teams wrap up the regular season this weekend with trips to the beach. Asheville will face Coastal Carolina on Friday at 6 p.m. Presbyterian will travel to Charleston Southern on Friday at 7 p.m.
