ASHEVILLE, N.C.?Kelsey Benorden had a match-high 14 kills to lead UNC Asheville to a 25-16, 25-9, 25-14 sweep over North Carolina A&T on Tuesday night at the Justice Center.
Benorden was the only hitter to reach double-figure kills. She hit .379 (14-3-29) on the match. Heather Burns and Lauren Ficker each had eight kills for the Bulldogs who improved to 8-5 on the season.
Janae Mitchell led NC A&T (1-15) with five kills while Breanne Dotstry added four kills for the Aggies who hit just .012 (18-17-81) for the match.
Asheville had a team hitting percentage of .290 (40-13-93) while out-digging the Aggies 45-35. A&T held a 6-4 blocking advantage.
The first set was tied 12-12 before Asheville went on a 5-0 run to lead 17-12. The Dogs used a 7-3 run to gain set point at 24-15. A&T pulled to within eight points before a service error gave Asheville the set.
Ficker scored nine straight points on her serve in the second set as the Dogs opened up a 13-2 lead forced A&T to use both of its timeouts. Asheville hit .364 in the second set while the Aggies hit -.040. It was the first time Asheville held an opponent to single digits in a set.
The Aggies held close in the final set at 11-9 before the Dogs went on a 9-2 run to take a 20-12 lead. A kill by Burns gave the Dogs match point at 24-14 and Jenna Dover ended the match with her second kill of the night.
Asheville will open Big South Conference play on Friday, Sept. 26, at it hosts High Point in a 7 p.m. match. The match will be video streamed on bigsouthsports.com beginning at 6:50 p.m.
