University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
3-5,0-0Big South
The Citadel
8-0,0-0SoCon
Volleyball falls short in three-set battle
09.08.2023 | Women's Volleyball
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville volleyball team kicked off the Queens Fall Classic Friday evening against The Citadel and fell in three sets (25-20, 25-22, 25-20).
With Friday's loss, the Bulldogs drop to 3-5, while The Citadel moves to 8-0.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams exchanged back-and-forth blows to start the match, as The Citadel jumped out to a 4-2 lead before Asheville went on a 5-1 run to take the lead 7-5. Asheville's first three points came from kills by Albertine van der Goot, Baylor Herlehy, and Matilde Teixeira.
Asheville extended its lead 8-6 before The Citadel went on a 6-0 run to jump ahead 12-8. Asheville would bring the score back within one, following a kill from Teixeira (17-16), but that was as close as The Citadel would allow the Bulldogs, as they went on to take the first set and take a 1-0 lead.
The Citadel opened the second set on a 4-0 run before Asheville answered with a 4-0 run of their own. A kill from van der Goot would get the Bulldogs on the board, and three errors from The Citadel would help Asheville even the score. The Citadel would go on to score back-to-back points to take a 7-5 lead and hold the lead, until a kill from Herlehy and an error from The Citadel, would tie the score at 11. Once again, The Citadel would respond with back-to-back points to retake the lead, but the Bulldogs never trailed by more than three points.
With The Citadel leading 18-15, Asheville brought the score back within one, following a kill from Kylie Cackovic and a block from Sydney Bradley, but The Citadel responded with a 4-0 run, earning their largest lead of the night (22-17). The Bulldogs would bring the score back within three, but The Citadel answered with the next two points, taking it to set point (24-19).
Asheville would not go down without a fight, as the Bulldogs went on to cut the score back down to two points following back-to-back Citadel errors and an ace from Ona Elkins, but a kill from The Citadel's Ali Ruffin would secure the second set victory.
In the final set of the evening, The Citadel jumped out to a 5-2 start and never looked back as they held the lead for the rest of the match. Asheville never trailed by more than three points early on, but an 8-2 run by The Citadel helped earn them their largest lead of the set at 21-14.
The Bulldogs once again attempted to pull off a late set comeback, as they went on a 4-0 run to make the score 23-20, but The Citadel would close out the match with back-to-back kills to earn the sweep.
IN THE BOX
Herlehy led Asheville at the net with a season-high seven blocks and added on six kills. Van der Goot also recorded six kills and added to her stat line four blocks, five digs, and a season-high 14 assists. Texiera nearly recorded a double-double as she finished the night with nine kills, nine digs, and three aces. Katie Nichols led Asheville's defense with 10 digs.
UP NEXT
Asheville will round out the tournament tomorrow as they face Marshall at noon and South Carolina State at 4:30 p.m. Neither game will be live-streamed, but live stats can be found for both games here.
