University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
High Point
Bulldogs Drop First Big South Match, Fall To High Point
10.02.2010 | Women's Volleyball
HIGH POINT, N.C. - The UNC Asheville volleyball team dropped its first Big South Conference match of the season on Saturday, falling to the Panthers of High Point 3-0 on the road in league play. With the loss Asheville had its six match win streak snapped as the Bulldogs could not get anything going on offense.
Asheville (10-7, 3-1 Big South) had a team hitting percentage of .072 with junior outside hitter Cindi Miller leading the team in kills with seven. As a team the Bulldogs tallied only 29 kills while committing 20 attack errors.
"We haven't been playing well, and when you haven't been playing well and you go up against a good team you're not going to win," said head coach Julie Torbett. "I hope this was a wakeup call for my team and hopefully we'll start playing better."
High Point (8-10, 3-1 Big South) had three players record double digit kills with Megan Smith leading the way with 14. Audie Gonzalez contributed 12 kills with Stephanie Wallin adding 11 to the Panthers' total of 51. Setter Maddie Simpson recorded 45 assists in directing the High Point offense with Julie Hershkowitz tallying a match-high 17 digs.
For the Bulldogs libero Alex Stewart recorded a team-high 14 digs and middle blocker Holly Shelton posted a match-high four blocks. Setter Hallie Morse led the team in assists with 15 while also posting two service aces.
The match itself featured a total of 21 tie scores and 10 lead changes. The first set saw the Panthers run out to a 20-10 lead before Asheville was able to muster a comeback. The Bulldogs gained some momentum by finishing the match on a 10-5 run, but the early deficit was too much to overcome as High Point took the first set 25-20.
In the second set the Blue & White jumped out to an early 10-6 lead before the Panthers were able to tie the score at 10 with a kill by Courtney Johnk. The two teams traded the lead back and forth until Miller and Shelton blocked an attack by Michelle Chakirelis to give Asheville a 20-19 lead. However, High Point would not be denied, finishing the match on a 6-2 run to win the set 25-22.
The third set saw the two teams trade the lead back and forth once again, battling out to a 15-15 tie. Once again the Panthers' offense stepped up its production and finished the set and match on a 10-4 run for a 25-19 set win, and a 3-0 match win.
The Bulldogs will look to get back to their winning ways on Tuesday evening when they travel to Clinton, S.C., to take on conference foe Presbyterian College in a match set to being on 7 p.m.
