Gardner-Webb Holds on to Defeat UNC Asheville, 3-1, on Friday Night
October 13, 2012 | Volleyball
Asheville, N.C. - Juniors Tyler Cockrell, Erin Anderson and Emily Holte all posted double digit kills to lead the Runnin' Bulldogs to a 3-1 win over UNC Asheville on Friday night in Asheville, N.C. for Gardner-Webb's first road win of the season.
GWU defeated Asheville 25-21, 25-23, 21-25 and 25-21 to earn the 3-1 Big South Conference win.
Gardner-Webb moves to 8-15 overall and 3-3 in the Big South, while Asheville falls to 6-16 and 2-4 in conference play with the loss.
The win for Gardner-Webb not only completed the regular season series sweep of the Asheville Bulldogs, as GWU defeated UNC Asheville 3-1 back on September 21st, but it is also the Runnin' Bulldogs' third straight win over Asheville over the last two seasons.
Friday night's win snapped a nine-match road losing streak for GWU, who improves to 1-7 in true road matches this season, while the win was also the Runnin' Bulldogs' first win at the Justice Center since 2006.
Behind Anderson and Cockrell's team-high 13 kills, Holte tallied 10 kills, while both Amanda Murphy and Molly Rhyne posted eight kills apiece in the win. Sophomore setter Heather Feldman dished out a match-high 49 set assists to go along with a team-high 18 digs to post her 10th double-double of the season, while libero Anna Pashkova totaled 17 digs in the four set match.
Asheville's Meredith Foster recorded a match-high 16 kills, while both Holly Shelton and Anna Moore each registered nine kills apiece in the loss. Setter Katie Davis picked up 38 set assists, a team-high, while libero Rachel Wells recorded 20 digs in four sets of play.
Gardner-Webb took advantage of back-to-back Asheville attack errors to start the contest and jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening set. However, the Asheville Bulldogs would battle back to take a 6-5 lead on a kill by Davis.
The visiting Runnin' Bulldogs responded with a 6-1 run, highlighted by a service ace by Rhyne, to take its largest lead of the set at 11-7.
GWU would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the set, as the Runnin' Bulldogs had an answer for every Asheville point.
Asheville knotted the set up at 18-18 with a 4-0 run, yet GWU refused to panic, but rather answered with a 4-0 run of its own, kicked off by a kill by Holte, to pull back in front at 22-19.
A kill by Anderson would hand the Runnin' Bulldogs the 25-21 set win and put the visitors up 1-0 early in the match.
Carrying over the momentum from the first set win and into the second set, GWU ran out to a 9-4 lead on four kills by Murphy and three kills by Cockrell.
After an Asheville timeout, the home standing Bulldogs' came out fighting, as Asheville took advantage of back-to-back errors by the Runnin' Bulldogs to jump start a 10-5 run, highlighted by back-to-back kills from Foster and Christine Lakatos, to take a 15-14 lead and force a GWU timeout.
With Asheville holding on to a slight 22-18 lead, the set of runs would continue, this time in favor of the Runnin' Bulldogs, as GWU put together a 7-1 run to finish the set and pick up the 25-23 come from behind win on five straight points to close out the game.
Up 2-1 in the third set, Gardner-Webb looked to put the contest away, however, the Bulldogs of Asheville had other plans, pulling out to a 10-6 lead on a kill by Shelton and two straight GWU errors.
Gardner-Webb would cut the Asheville lead to one on several occasions, including at 14-13 on a Holte kill and at 16-15 on a Bulldog service error, yet could not take the lead from the home team.
Two straight GWU errors and back-to-back points by Asheville on a kill by Lakatos and a Wells service ace led the Bulldogs to a 25-21 set win and forced a fourth set.
An Anderson kill opened up the fourth set for the Runnin' Bulldogs, as Gardner-Webb took a 7-4 lead, capped off by kills from Rhyne and Cockrell, to start the frame, only to have the Asheville Bulldogs claw its way back into the set and take a 10-9 lead on two consecutive Foster kills.
Three straight kills by GWU's Anderson pushed the visitors back in front at 13-11, yet Asheville countered with a 7-4 run to retake the lead at 18-17 and force a Runnin' Bulldog timeout.
GWU replied with three straight points of its own, which included two UNC Asheville errors, to pull back in front one more time by two at 20-18.
This time the visitors refused to let Asheville back on top, but rather closed the set out with a 6-1 run to earn the 25-21 set win and the 3-1 match victory.
Gardner-Webb posted 11 total blocks as a team compared to Asheville's seven team blocks, while the Runnin' Bulldogs also posted 15 more kills than the home team (56-41).
"I'm very proud of the team, as this was a very focused effort," Coach Leo Sayles commented. "We worked hard all week and the work paid off. Heather (Feldman) was tremendous defensively for us and we settled down offensively as the match went along. Tyra Montour's defense at the end gave us the stops we needed to put the match away."
The Runnin' Bulldogs will return to action in one week, as GWU will host Coastal Carolina on Friday night, October 19th, at 7 p.m. in Paul Porter Arena. UNC Asheville will also be in action next Friday night, as the Bulldogs will host Charleston Southern at 7 p.m.
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| Box Score: GWU 3, Asheville 1 |
