University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
INSTANT CLASSIC ? Asheville Earns 3-2 Victory Over Big South Foe Coastal Carolina
09.25.2010 | Women's Volleyball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - In a match that featured 18 tie scores and five lead changes, the UNC Asheville volleyball team was able defeat Big South Conference rival Coastal Carolina 3-2 at home in front of a raucous crowd at the Justice Center on Saturday afternoon.
"We've been good for a long time, we just haven't been able to beat that team (Coastal)," said Asheville head coach Julie Torbett. "They're very good, but we just kept with them the whole match and proved that we're a good team too, especially at home."
Coach Torbett also spoke of the Bulldogs' home court advantage playing in the Justice Center.
"I love this place, it is hot and it is loud and our fans really get into volleyball," said Torbett. "For volleyball or basketball it's one of the toughest places to play in the country."
With the victory Asheville improves to 8-6 on the season with a 2-0 mark in BSC play while the Chanticleers fall to 7-8 overall and 1-1 in conference.
The Bulldogs' Cindi Miller and Coastal's Chelsy Kimes were the stars of the match. Miller posted a career-high 24 kills in helping lead Asheville to the five-set victory. Not to be outdone, Kimes tallied a match-high 25 kills while hitting for a .328 average.
Rachel Olivo and Kelsey Benorden posted 11 and 10 kills, respectively, and Rachel Guinane recorded 46 assists in directing the Asheville offense. Libero Alex Stewart earned a career-high 26 digs on defense for the Bulldogs to lead all player in the match and middle blocker Meredith Foster posted six blocks (one solo) to help the Asheville cause.
Amana Russell (11) and Megan Bickford (10) each earned double digit kills for the Chanticleers, with setters Lauren Alejo (38) and Kelsie Mauck (24) combining for 62 assist. Coastal's libero Lindsay Gill led her team in digs with 24 and Bickford led the match with eight blocks (three solo).
The first set saw the Chanticleers dominate Asheville in all phases of the game to earn an easy 25-14 victory to take a 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs would regroup in set No. 2 and earn a 25-23 victory on a kill by rightside hitter Jenna Dover. In another hard fought set, Coastal would survive a late Bulldogs' comeback to earn the 26-24 victory and take a 2-1 lead into the fourth frame.
In that fourth set the two teams would run out to a 21-21 tie, only to have the Bulldogs go on a 4-0 run capped off by a service ace by Rachel Wells to win the frame 25-21 and tie the match at two set apiece.
The pivotal fifth set saw the Chanticleers take a 3-0 lead before Asheville would go on a 6-0 run to take a 6-3 lead before Coastal took a timeout to try to slow the Bulldogs' momentum. The plan would work as the Chanticleers would tie the match at 6-6.
Asheville would slowly pull away to take an 11-8 lead before Coastal took another timeout to once again try an ice the surging Asheville attack. Coming out of the break the two teams traded points back and forth, with the Bulldogs finishing the match on another Wells service ace.
The Bulldogs will be on the road for almost three weeks before they play in the Justice Center once again. Asheville's will make a trip to Macon, Ga., for its next match on Tuesday when the Blue & White square off against Mercer in a match set to begin at 6 p.m.
Coastal Carolina will host non-conference opponent UNC Wilmington on Tuesday at Kimbel Arena, with match time set for 6 p.m. as well.
