University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
USC Upstate
Volleyball Drops Season Opener on Friday Afternoon
08.28.2015 | Women's Volleyball
THE RUNDOWN
Score: USC Upstate 3 – Asheville 1
Teams: Asheville (0-1, 0-0 BSC)
USC Upstate (1-0, 0-0 ASun)
Location: Halton Arena/UNC Charlotte Invitational, Charlotte, N.C.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Despite four close sets, the UNC Asheville volleyball team fell 3-1 to USC Upstate in both teams' season opener Friday night. Asheville senior Christine Lakatos finished with a team-high 14 kills in the loss.
THE TURNING POINT
Knotted at one set apiece, the Bulldogs connected for a -.067 hitting percentage in the third set, finishing with just seven kills and nine errors, allowing USC Upstate to take the set and control of the match.
NOTABLES
-Asheville's four seniors – Lakatos, Catherine Fischer, Katie Davis and Bryn Pfeiffer – combined for 25 kills and 50 of the team's 79 total digs.
-Sophomore Cameron Pryor finished with a match-high eight blocks as the Bulldogs tallied 14 blocks to Upstate's eight.
-The Bulldogs are now 2-3 in season openers the last five years, all coming on the first day of tournament action.
-Asheville is now 5-3 all-time against USC Upstate.
QUOTABLES
“This is a tough loss for us because it was a closely contested match throughout. We played at a good level at times but we need to be more consistent and play at that level at all times.” - Head Coach Frederico Santos
UP NEXT
- The Bulldogs continue in the UNC Charlotte Invitational with a pair of matches on Saturday. Asheville opens the day's play at 10 a.m. when they take on Davidson and then wrap up the tournament against host-Charlotte at 7 p.m. tomorrow night.
