University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Charleston Southern
Volleyball Falls in Five at Charleston Southern; Will be Fourth Seed in Upcoming Tournament
11.15.2008 | Women's Volleyball
CHARLESTON, S.C.?Kelsey Benorden had 20 kills, 15 digs, and a career-high seven blocks but Charleston Southern used a strong defensive effort to pull out a hard fought 3-2 victory (25-23, 16-25, 25-17, 21-25, 25-11) on Saturday night.
Charleston Southern (16-17, 5-11 Big South) was led by 25 kills from Amanda Hill who hit .281 in the match. Hill added 11 digs. Amberle Trinder and Nichole Diller each had 11 kills. The Bucs won their final two-matches of the regular season to finish seventh in the Big South standings but will earn the number six seed in next week's tournament.
Asheville (16-13, 8-8 Big South) entered the weekend knowing it was going to finish fourth in the Big South standings. The Dogs will play Winthrop in the first round of the Big South Tournament which begins Friday in Asheville.
Cindi Miller had 15 kills and Heather Burns had 14 kills and five blocks for the Bulldogs. Burns moved ahead of Rose Butler (2002-05) for eighth on Asheville single-season block assists list. Raquel Miotto had 18 digs giving her 614 digs this season which is the fifth most in a single-season in Asheville history.
Charleston Southern led most of the first set. The Bucs trailing 8-7 scored five straight points to take a 12-8 lead. The Bulldogs tied the set at 16 and it remained tied until 20-20. CSU scored three-straight points on two kills by Hill and an Asheville attack error to lead 23-20. Asheville pulled to within 23-22 but another Asheville error gave CSU two set points. A bad set pulled the Dogs to within a point but Trinder ended the set with her fourth kill of the set.
The Bulldog block was the difference in the second set. Trailing 12-8 the Dogs went on 12-7 run aided by six blocks in the set. A kill by Diller made the score 20-16 but that was the last point CSU would score. Asheville finished the set with five-straight points. Three kills by three different players a block, and an attack error evened the match at 1-1.
With the third set tied 6-6, Charleston Southern used a 14-5 run to cruise to a 2-1 lead in the match. The Bucs hit a match-high .219 in the third set while Asheville hit .139. CSU also had three service aces in the set.
Set four was tight throughout as neither team led by more than three points. Tied 20-20, a service ace by Miller started a 4-0 Asheville run giving the Dogs set point at 24-20. Trinder had a kill for CSU to stop the run but Benorden answered with a kill to send the match to a fifth set.
CSU never trailed in the final set. Hill had six kills and the Bucs hit .357 in the deceive set. In the match, Asheville out-hit CSU .220 to .190 but the Bucs out-dug the Dogs 89-69. Asheville had 13 blocks just one shy of its season-high but the Bucs had six service aces and took advantage of seven Asheville service errors.
The Big South Tournament begins on Friday afternoon at the Justice Center in Asheville. The Tournament bracket will be released on Sunday. As of Saturday night, there was a three-way tie for first place between, Liberty, High Point, and Coastal Carolina. UNC Asheville finishes fourth and will play fifth place Winthrop in the first round. Presbyterian finished sixth but is not eligible for the tournament so Charleston Southern will be the six seed. Radford will be the seven seed and Gardner-Webb the eighth seed.
