GWU Volleyball Drops Big South Opener at Asheville on Friday Night
September 24, 2011 | Volleyball
Asheville, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team took a 2-0 set lead in dominating fashion on Friday night, only to have the UNC Asheville Bulldogs come back from behind and take the next three sets to defeat the Runnin' Bulldogs 3-2 in the two teams' Big South Conference opener in Asheville, N.C.
Gardner-Webb took the first two sets 25-15 and 25-15, only to have the Asheville Bulldogs storm back into that match to defeat GWU 25-20 in the third set, 25-16 in the fourth and then 16-14 in the fifth set.
The loss is Gardner-Webb's second to Asheville this season, having suffered a 3-2 five-set loss in non-conference action to the Bulldogs back on September 3rd at the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia, S.C.
GWU falls to 4-10 overall on the season and 0-1 in the Big South, while Asheville improves to 7-6 overall and 1-0 in conference action.
The Runnin' Bulldogs carried over the momentum from its three set win over Western Carolina on Wednesday night into the first set, taking an 8-7 lead on a kill by sophomore middle blocker Tyler Cockrell.
After UNCA took the lead at 9-8 on a Hallie Morse service ace, a Gardner-Webb kill by senior Lauren Evans kick started an 8-0 run by GWU to push the Runnin' Bulldogs in front at 16-9.
Asheville picked up a kill by Meredith Foster to cut the GWU lead to six at 16-10, yet did not deter the Runnin' Bulldogs offense, who finished the first set out on a 9-5 run to record the 25-15 set win and take a 1-0 match lead.
In the second set, the Runnin' Bulldogs took a 6-1 lead on a UNCA attack error and never looked back, pushing its lead out to eight at 16-8 on a kill by junior right side hitter Carol Solano.
With the score at 20-12 in favor of GWU, Asheville looked to stop the GWU attack with a timeout, however, it failed to work, as the Runnin' Bulldogs outscored UNCA 5-3 down the stretch to pick up the 25-15 set win and take a 2-0 match lead.
The Runnin' Bulldogs, who had won eight straight sets heading into the third set of the match, again took an early lead over the Asheville Bulldogs in the third set, as an Erin Anderson kill put GWU in front at 9-7.
However, this set it was the Asheville Bulldogs who made a mid-set run, outscoring the GWU Runnin' Bulldogs 11-2 to take an 18-11 lead and force Gardner-Webb to call its second time out in the set.
After a Cindi Miller kill put the score at 20-12 in favor of UNCA, the Runnin' Bulldogs were able to cut the Asheville lead to 24-20, on back-to-back kills from Cockrell and Evans.
Yet on UNCA's third set point of the frame, a GWU attack error gave the set win to the Bulldogs at 25-20 and cut the GWU match lead to one at 2-1.
Asheville ran with the momentum from the third set win in the early goings of the fourth set, storming out in front of Gardner-Webb at 15-5, capped off by three straight UNCA kills.
The Runnin' Bulldogs could never get back in the set, as the Asheville Bulldogs ran away with the 25-16 set win and tied the match up at 2-2.
The fifth and decisive set was exciting from start to finish, as Gardner-Webb took a 4-2 lead on a Laura Wilcox kill and forced Asheville to call its first timeout.
Out of the timeout, Asheville battled back with an 8-4 run to take a 10-8 lead and force GWU to call its first timeout of the set.
After GWU tied the score up at 10-10, UNCA retook the lead with three straight points at 13-10 and looked to have the set and match in hand.
However, Gardner-Webb picked up a kill from Solano, took advantage of a UNCA attack error and then tallied a kill from Anderson to tie the score up once more, this time at 13-13.
The back-and-forth set continued, as after a UNCA timeout, the Runnin' Bulldogs retook the lead at 14-13 on a kill from Wilcox.
Yet the final three points went in favor of the Asheville Bulldogs, as UNCA had two huge kills from Miller to help secure the 16-14 fifth set win and the 3-2 come from behind match win.
Four GWU players tallied double-digit kills in Cockrell (12), Evans (11), Anderson (11) and Wilcox (10). Evans also posted 13 digs, while senior libero Evan Moffitt totaled a team-high 21 digs and the lone GWU service ace. Freshman setter Heather Feldman dished out a career-high 48 assists for the match.
Miller led the Asheville Bulldogs with a match-high 23 kills and 11 digs, while Morse recorded 48 set assists.
Gardner-Webb has dropped eight straight matches to the Asheville Bulldogs.
The Runnin' Bulldogs (4-10, 0-1 Big South) will return to action next Tuesday night, as GWU will step back out of conference play to do battle with the Spartans of USC Upstate at 7 p.m. in Spartanburg, S.C.
Asheville (7-6, 1-0 Big South) will return to action next Friday night, as the Bulldogs will hit the road to take on Liberty at 7 p.m. in Lynchburg, Va.
###
| Box Score: UNC Asheville 3, Gardner-Webb 2 |
