Volleyball Falls to Liberty

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? Top-seeded Liberty was able to key points in all three sets to defeat fourth-seeded UNC Asheville, 3-0 in the semifinals of the Big South Conference Volleyball Tournament Saturday night at Justice Center.

The defending Big South Conference champions won the match 25-23, 25-21, 25-20 as the Flames (24-8) will now face third-seeded Coastal Carolina Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the Big South title match.

Liberty was led by Nicki Scripko with 12 kills, four blocks and eight digs. Karyl Bacon finished with 10 kills and 13 digs. Setter Kallie Corbin had 37 assists, four blocks and 17 digs.

The Bulldogs have a 17-14 overall record. They were led by Kelsey Benorden and Cindi Miller with 13 kills each. Benorden enjoyed a double-double with 11 digs. Heather Burns had six kills and four blocks. Raquel Miotto led Asheville's defense with 15 digs.

The key set was the first one. The Bulldogs led for most of the set and pushed their lead to 21-18 on a block from Burns. However, Liberty went on a 5-1 run to take the lead 23-22. A kill from Miller tied the set at 23-23. The Flames got kills from Scripko and Bacon to win the set 25-23.

In the second set, Liberty sprinted to a 7-1 lead and appeared in good shape only to see the Bulldogs storm back and use a 6-0 run to lead 20-17. Miller led the run with four kills, including three straight at one point.

But the Flames took advantage of five straight errors by the Bulldogs to seize control of the set at 22-20. A block by Asheville got the home team to 22-21. But that was as close as the Bulldogs would get as once again kills from Scripko and Bacon ended the set at 25-21.

Set three would go back-and-forth and be tied at 17-17 before Liberty made a final push and went on a match-ending 8-2 run to get the victory. Scripko helped lead the late run with four kills.

This will be Liberty's eighth appearance in the title game.

“We were able to get key points at key times in the match to get a win against a well-coached and solid UNC Asheville team,” stated Liberty coach Shane Pinder. “I thought we executed when we absolutely had to and our top players made big plays when they had to make them.”

“It should be a great match tomorrow against Coastal Carolina,” added Pinder. “Coastal Carolina is playing very well right now and has been all year.”

“We came out with a lot of energy and played so well in the first set but we had a couple of things go wrong and we lost the first set,” stated UNC Asheville coach Julie Torbett. “I thought part of our problems was we didn't have as much balance on offense as we could have. We blocked well but our defense wasn't as good as it could have been. You also can't make eight service errors, including five in the third set and expect to win.

“Liberty is a great team and it made the plays when it had to,” added Torbett. “It should be a great championship match tomorrow.”

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Players Mentioned

Kelsey Benorden

Heather Burns

Cindi Miller

Raquel Miotto

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics