University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Radford
Volleyball Whips Radford in Three Sets
10.24.2009 | Women's Volleyball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Kelsey Benorden and Lauren Ficker combined for 25 kills as UNC Asheville rolled to a 3-0 Big South Conference volleyball win over visiting Radford Saturday afternoon at Justice Center. The Bulldogs won the match 25-21, 25-17, 25-18.
Asheville (19-7, 8-1 BSC) was led by Benorden's 12th double-double of the season. The junior outside hitter had a game-high 14 kills and 12 digs. Ficker hit .556 for the match with 11 kills in 18 swings. Setter Rachel Guinane had a solid floor match with 37 assists, five digs, two service aces, two blocks and two kills.
Senior libero Raquel Miotto finished with a team-high 16 digs. She now has 2,480 digs in her career and is in fifth place on the NCAA's all-time career list for digs.
The Highlanders (11-16, 1-10 BSC) were led by Megan McWhorter's nine kills. Laura Waddell finished with eight kills. Katelyn Meeks led the RU defense with a match-high 18 digs.
"We got better as the match went on," commented Bulldog coach Julie Torbett. "I though Rachel did a great job running our offense. We did a better job passing the ball and earned an important victory."
The win was Asheville's 19th of the year, one more than last year's team that went 18-14. The Bulldogs remain in first place in the Big South Conference.
The first set had 10 tie scores, five lead changes and was close all the way. Asheville had built a 21-18 lead before the Highlanders tied the set up with a 3-0 run on back-to-back kills from Mariah Nussbaum and Waddell plus a hitting error by the Bulldogs. But Asheville closed the set out with four straight points. Two kills came from Benorden and a kill from Guinane gave the Bulldogs the set, 25-21.
In the second set, Asheville went on a 9-1 run to seize control of the match and build a 22-12 lead. Bulldog sophomore Cindi Miller had three kills during the run plus RU had five hitting errors. Asheville won the second set, 25-17.
In the third set, the Bulldogs led steadily but RU hung in for most of the set. A kill from Lauren Clary narrowed the Asheville lead to 19-16. However, the Bulldogs got kills from four different players to go on a 4-0 run to get the lead to 23-16. The teams exchanged points before a kill from freshman Chelsie Kenley ended the match.
The Bulldogs host Presbyterian Tuesday night at Justice Center starting at 7 p.m. Radford travels to High Point Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. match.
