Volleyball Hosts Coastal Carolina Saturday Afternoon

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The Bulldog volleyball team puts in three-game winning streak on the line Saturday afternoon when UNC Asheville hosts Big South Conference rival Coastal Carolina at Justice Center starting at 2 p.m. The match will be video-streamed and can be seen for a small fee at www.uncabulldog.com.

Asheville (7-6, 1-0 BSC) opened league play and played its first home match Tuesday against Gardner-Webb. The Bulldogs may have played their best match of the year in a 3-0 victory over the Runnin' Bulldogs.

"We played extremely well Tuesday night," stated Asheville coach Julie Torbett. "We've been playing well in some of our early matches but haven't put it together for a whole match like we did against Gardner-Webb. Everyone who played contributed from start to finish."

Saturday's match will be champion vs. champion. The Bulldogs won last year's Big South regular-season title, while the Chanticleers won the tournament title. CCU beat Asheville three times last season. The two regular-season matches went five sets before CCU downed the Bulldogs in three sets at the semifinals of the conference tournament.

"Coastal Carolina has been a tough team for us the past few years," commented Torbett. "Last year we had two great matches with them in the regular season that could have gone either way. In the tournament, they played very well and beat us."

Coastal Carolina is 7-7 on the season and 1-0 in league play after a 3-0 victory over Charleston Southern Tuesday.

"Coastal Carolina has a good team, and we're going to have to play very well to beat them," explained Torbett. "We've been playing better the past few match and want that to continue this weekend."

The Bulldogs led the Big South Conference in hitting percentage at .229. Senior setter Rachel Guinane tops the league in assists at 9.84 per set. Cindi Miller is third in the BCS in kills (3.87), while Kelsey Benorden is fifth (3.65). Both have six double-doubles (kills-digs) on the year which is tied for fourth in the Big South.