Volleyball Ends Season with Sweep of Wofford

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? Jenna Dover matched her career high with 12 kills to lead UNC Asheville to a 29-27, 25-18, 25-18 victory over Wofford in the final match of the 2008 season at the Justice Center on Tuesday night.

Dover hit .524 in the match and had two block assists as the Bulldogs (18-14) out-blocked the Terriers (16-18) 9-4 on the match. Dover also had 12 kills against Winthrop on Oct. 4. Heather Burns closed out her Asheville career with five block assists to tie Ashley Wrightenberry on the school's single season block assists list with 116. Raquel Miotto had 26 digs on the match to finish the season with 674 digs which is good for fourth on Asheville's single-season list. Miotto will begin her senior year needing 202 digs to break the UNC Asheville and Big South career record.

Wofford was led by Lindsey Robinson who had a match-high 13 kills and Shanna Hughes who added 19 digs. Brittany Thompson had 21 digs in the match to finish the season with 710 digs.

“It is great to end the season with a win,” said Asheville head coach Julie Torbett. “Not very many teams get the opportunity to end with a win. We were able to play everyone tonight and see what players who have not had as much court time could do in a competitive match. Our setters did a great job of spreading the ball around and we got contributions from players you might not have expected. We blocked great, I am proud to see Heather (Burns) play well in her final match and move up the blocking list.”

The opening set saw 16 ties and five lead changes as neither team could build a significant lead. The Terriers eventually pulled ahead 19-14 due to several hitting errors made by the Bulldogs.

Coach Torbett called a timeout to reorganize her team. Whatever she said helped as the Bulldogs rallied and eventually tied the set at 21 on a kill by Dover.

The set went past the 25 point mark as neither team could pull ahead by two to win. The Bulldogs finally won the set 29-27 on a block by freshman Lia Scott.

In the second set, the Bulldogs pulled ahead 8-5 after Wofford committed three consecutive errors.

The Bulldogs kept the lead for the remainder of the set. In her final game at the Justice Center, Burns put the Bulldogs ahead 22-16 with a block A kill by freshman Rachel Olivo gave the Bulldogs the set.

Asheville was ahead by as many as nine points in the third set, but Wofford record four consecutive points to make the score 23-18. However, the Bulldogs scored the final two points with the last coming on a kill by Burns.

The match concludes the season for both teams. Asheville will return 11 players including four seniors in 2009.