University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Presbyterian
Volleyball Downs Presbyterian 3-1; Benorden Posts 22 Kills
10.27.2009 | Women's Volleyball
The league victory allows Asheville (20-7, 9-1 BSC) to remain in first place in the Big South Conference, a half-game ahead of second-place Liberty (9-2).
The Bulldogs picked up 11 kills and five blocks from Lauren Ficker. Cindi Miller added 10 kills. Setter Rachel Guinane had 43 assists, six kills, three blocks and two service aces. Raquel Miotto had a match-high 14 digs.
PC (9-16, 4-6 BSC) was led by Lisa Shelley's 14 kills and 10 digs. Presley Mabrey chipped in 13 kills and hit .385 on the night. Amanda Kettles had nine kills and five blocks. Elizabeth Heinemen also had 10 digs for the visitors.
Asheville, 19th in the nation in service aces, had nine in the match. Brooke Holliday, Ficker and Guinane all had two services aces each.
The win was the Bulldogs' 20th of the season. It marks the first time Asheville has won 20 matches since the 2005 campaign when it won 25.
"We're always glad to win and this was a big victory for us tonight," commented Asheville coach Julie Torbett. "We did a great job in the first set but had to struggle after that set. Give Presbyterian credit. They really picked their game up and gave us all we wanted after the first set."
Asheville was in total control of the first set. They scored the first five points of the match, three of the points coming on PC hitting errors. Benorden had seven kills as the home team cruised to a 25-13 victory.
The second set was much different as the set was tied 11 times and had six lead changes. Shelley had five kills and her kill at 23-23 gave the Blue Hose a chance to win the set at 24-23. The team exchanged side-outs with each team having a chance to win two different times. Tied at 27-27, Benorden picked up a kill to give the Bulldogs the lead at 28-27. An attack error from PC gave Asheville the win at 29-27.
The third set was totally dominated by the Blue Hose. The visitors scored the first seven points , and the Bulldogs could get no closer than five points. PC hit .417 with 14 kills on 24 swings. They won 25-15.
In the fourth set, the Blue Hose got a kill from Shelley to lead 13-12. But Asheville took control of the match from there. Led by the serving of Brooke Holliday, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to lead 19-13. Benorden had three kills during the run with a service aces from Holliday.
Asheville never led PC get any closer than six the rest of the match as the Bulldogs rolled to their ninth win in the last 11 matches.
Sophomore Rachel Olivo came off the bench for Asheville and gave the team a spark. She had three kills in six swings and added two blocks.
UNC Asheville begins a four-game road trip starting Saturday afternoon at Charleston Southern at 2 p.m. Presbyterian College plays at High Point Friday night starting at 7 p.m.
