University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Winthrop
Volleyball Earns Top-Seed and Big South Regular-Season Title
11.14.2009 | Women's Volleyball
ASHEVILLE, N.C.--The UNC Asheville volleyball team did it the hard way but the Bulldogs claimed the top seed and at least a share of the Big South Conference regular-season title with a five-set win over a determined Winthrop squad Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs won the fifth set 16-14 after trailing 14-12.
Asheville (24-9, 13-3 Big South) won the match 25-17, 25-23, 20-25, 17-25, 16-14 while Winthrop falls to 19-10, 11-5 Big South.
Senior Lauren Ficker led the Bulldogs with 15 kills, while Kelsey Benorden had 14 kills and 21 digs. Cindi Miller added 11 kills. Raquel Miotto finished with a game-high 31 digs giving her back-to-back 30 dig matches this week. Brooke Holliday contributed a career-high 23 digs.
A gutty Winthrop team was led by Kaley Viola with a match-high 19 kills. Kelly Taylor and Sara Felts finished with 15 kills each. Ginnie Talley had 25 digs for the visitors.
Asheville (24-9, 13-3) will earn the top seed even if Liberty (12-3) wins at Charleston Southern tonight by virtue of the Bulldogs two victories over the Flames this year. It's Asheville's first regular-season crown since the 2002 season.
Winthrop held a 13-12 lead in the opening set before the Bulldogs went on a 13-5 to close out the set. Asheville scored the final four points of set two to escape with a 25-23 victory and led 2-0 going into the intermission.
Set three was a back and forth affair with 17 ties and five lead changes. With the score 20-20, an Asheville service error and two aces from Kristin Cruse helped the Eagles score the last five points for a 25-20 win. Winthrop dominated the fourth set out-hitting Asheville .415 to .175.
With the match tied, Winthrop raced out to an 8-4 lead in the final set. After the side change, Asheville began a 4-0 run that tied the score at 8-8. Asheville took its first lead of the set at 11-10, but Winthrop answered with a 4-1 run to gain two match points at 14-12. An Eagle service error gave Asheville life and back-to-back attacking errors gave the Bulldogs match point at 15-14. After a Winthrop timeout, Ficker and Jenna Dover combined on a block that gave the Bulldogs the top seed.
Miotto had two service aces in the match to give her 62 for the season tying UNC Asheville's single season record set by Frida Sigurdardottir in 2002.
The regular season title is the Bulldogs first since 2002 when they also defeated Winthrop to clinch the crown.
The Big South Tournament will be held at Radford next weekend (Nov. 19-21) and pairings will be announced by the league Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.
