Volleyball Stuns Liberty in Five Sets

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? UNC Asheville had three players in double figures in kills as the Bulldogs stunned Big South Conference leader Liberty in five sets at Justice Center Friday night. UNC Asheville won the match 25-16, 22-25, 23-25, 27-25, 15-11.

Kelsey Benorden led the Bulldogs with 18 kills and 12 digs for her league leading 15th double-double of the season. Freshman Cindi Miller had a superb match with 17 kills as she hit .333. Senior Heather Burns finished with 12 kills and led the Asheville blocking effort with a career-best nine blocks. The Bulldogs had a season-high 14 blocks as a team.

The victory was UNC Asheville's fourth straight and sixth out of the last seven matches. The Bulldogs improved to 14-11 overall and 6-6 in the Big South. The Flames fell to 20-7 and 11-2 in the BSC.

Liberty was led by Kallie Corbin with 19 kills and 22 digs. Nicki Scripko was sensational for the Flames with 18 kills and 15 digs. Jessica Nelson had 16 kills and 21 digs.

“What a great match,” exclaimed UNC Asheville coach Julie Torbett. “I'm really proud of our girls for battling like they did tonight to beat a great Liberty team.

“We did a super job blocking but Liberty did a great job with its defense (93 digs),” added Torbett. “We just wouldn't quit and got the points when we needed them.

“We've played so many five-set matches this year that we're starting to get a lot of confidence when we go five sets,” Torbett also said.

In the first set, the Bulldogs and Flames were tied 15-15 when Asheville went on a 9-0 run to sprint to a 24-15 lead. The Bulldogs won the first game 25-16. Liberty had four hitting errors in the Ashevile run, while Benorden added three kills.

Liberty won a hard-fought second set, 25-22. Corbin led the Flame attack with six kills in the set. She had two kills for the final two points of the set.

The teams went back and fourth in the third set as Asheville used a 4-0 run to take a 22-20 lead behind kills from Benorden and Miller. But Scripko would deliver three kills and a great save from Nelson turned out to be the winning point as her dig landed for a point to give LU the set, 25-23.

In the fourth game, there were six ties but a key kill from setter Kaitlyn McDaniel and a block gave the Bulldogs the set, 27-25.

In the final set, Asheville jumped out to a 4-1 lead only to see three service errors help Liberty tie the match at 7-7. But a kill from Benorden and two kills from Miller gave Asheville a working margin at 10-7. LU crept to 13-11 on a kill from Scipko. But a kill from Miller and a service ace from McDaniel sealed the victory for the Bulldogs.

Raquel Miotto had 22 digs for Asheville. Kelly Haseman had 15 digs for Liberty.

UNC Asheville hosts Radford Saturday afternoon at Justice Center starting at 2 p.m. The match will be shown on Tape-delay on Asheville Educational Television (AET-16).

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Players Mentioned

Kelsey Benorden

Heather Burns

Kaitlyn McDaniel

Cindi Miller

Raquel Miotto

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics