University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Liberty
Miller?s Career High Leads Bulldogs Past Flames
10.10.2009 | Women's Volleyball
Asheville has now won six-straight matches and 10 of its last 11. The Bulldogs move to 17-5 on the season and a still perfect 6-0 in league play.
Miller hit .500 for the match committing just five errors on 34 attacks. She also had three blocks to account for 25 Bulldog points. Lauren Ficker added 13 kills and five blocks while Kelsey Benroden recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 16 digs. Brooke Holliday added 13 digs.
Raquel Miotto also had 16 for the Bulldogs as she moved into eighth place on the NCAA all-time career digs list passing Arizona State's Sydney Donahue (2004-07). Miotto now has 2,387 career digs.
Liberty (10-8, 5-1 Big South) was led by Nicki Scripko who had 18 kills and 12 digs. Karyl Bacon added 11 kills and 11 digs while Chelaine McCarty had 12 kills. Kelly Haseman led all players with 24 digs.
"It was a great match," said UNC Asheville head coach Julie Torbett. "Liberty did a good job of taking away Kelsey's offense in the beginning of the match and Cindi stepped up to take those swings. In order to beat a team like Liberty, you have to have a balanced attack and we had that today. The atmosphere in the gym was terrific and I thought we played very well. We know this was going to be a tough weekend and to come away with two wins is great for our team."
The opening set was a marathon of an opener that saw 12 ties and five lead changes. A service ace by Scripko gave Liberty set point at 25-24 but Miller followed with a kill to tie it up again. A block by Miller and Ficker then gave Asheville its first set point but the Flames would fight off set point three times before tying the set at 28. The Bulldog block would come up big as Holly Shelton and Rachel Guinane combined to make it 29-28 and then Shelton and Jenna Dover combined for a block to give Asheville the set.
The Bulldogs began the second set on a 7-3 run and would take its largest lead at 13-8. But back came the flames with a run to tie the set at 17 and then pushed ahead at 18-17. An Liberty attack error and a Miller kills put Asheville back up 19-18. Then Scripko and Kalli Corben had back-to-back kills to put the Flames back on top 20-19. The Flames would lead 22-20 before Asheville took the final five points highlighted by a Bridgett Holliday service ace and a block by Ficker and Miller.
Liberty who had won 10-consecutive conference matches dating back to last season stormed back in the third set. The Flames led from start to finish in what was the most lopsided set of the match. The Flames hit .375 and sided-out 70 percent in the third set.
Asheville turned the tables in the fourth set as it was the Bulldogs who sided out 75 percent and hit .405 in the final set. With the set tied at 12-12, the Dogs took the lead for good with a 4-0 run highlighted by a trio of Miller kills. The Bulldogs continued to side out and did not allow the Flames to get any closer.
Asheville out-hit Liberty .240 to .159 on the match and out-blocked the Flames 10-6. Liberty held a 68-62 advantage in digs and a 7-2 advantage in service aces.
The Bulldogs remain perfect at home but will go on the road for its next two matches at Winthrop on Oct. 16 and at Coastal Carolina on Oct. 17. Liberty returns home to face High Point on Oct. 13.
