Greensboro, N.C. - Gardner-Webb junior setter Heather Feldman passed out her 3,000th career assist on Tuesday night, as the Runnin' Bulldogs defeated a spirited North Carolina A&T team 3-1 in non-conference action In Greensboro, N.C.

Gardner-Webb defeated North Carolina A&T 27-25, 26-24, 23-25 and 25-15 on Tuesday night.

With the win, GWU moves to 12-11 overall on the season and finished its 2013 non-conference slate at 9-9 overall. The loss drops the Lady Aggies to 4-19 overall on the year.

GWU's 12 wins this season matches the Runnin' Bulldogs' highest win total since 2009 and is only two wins shy of its NCAA Division I record of 14 overall wins which the Runnin' Bulldogs have done four times since transitioning to the Division I level in 2000-01 (2008, 2007, 2001, 2000).

"Critical play from two key players allowed us to pull out a tough victory tonight," head coach Leo Sayles commented. "A&T did a tremendous job sticking to their game plan and they were efficient tonight. They have a well-coached team. Anna (Pashkova) was tremendous in the back row and Taylor (Lillard) was unstoppable up front. I give credit to our players for fighting out critical points and I am pleased with their fighting spirit."

With Feldman's 45 set assists, the junior surpassed the 3,000 career assists mark to become only the second Runnin' Bulldog player to reach that plateau in GWU"s Division I volleyball history.

On top of Feldman's career milestone, freshman Taylor Lillard recorded a career-high 18 kills and posted match-high .485 attack percentage on the night. Both Brianna Starr and Emily Holte tallied nine kills apiece, while Starr chipped in with 12 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Libero Anna Pashkova registered a match-high 31 digs, the second time in the last three matches that she has gone over the 30 dig mark, while senior middle blocker Amanda Murphy added eight kills, one solo block and four block assists in the win.

Both Aleena McDaniel and Brooke Stamnes tallied double digit kills with 16 and 14, respectively, while Stamnes also posted all five of the Lady Aggies service aces on the night.

Gardner-Webb took a 1-0 lead to start the match on a kill from Erin Anderson to open up the first set, however, the Lady Aggies responded with a 7-1 run to take a 7-2 lead on a McDaniel kill and force an early GWU timeout.

A kill from GWU's Holte got the visitors back on the right track, as the Runnin' Bulldogs clawed its way back into the set, cutting the A&T lead to three at 13-10 on yet another Holte kill.

After Gardner-Webb got to within two at 15-13, the Lady Aggies again used an offensive surge to pull away and take a four point lead at 21-17 on a Jade Boone kill.

Following a second GWU timeout, the Runnin' Bulldogs used back-to-back kills from Lillard, another spike from Holte and a kill from Murphy to battle back and take a 24-23 lead on two straight North Carolina A&T errors.

However, the home team refused to throw in the white towel, but rather answered with a 2-0 run of its own to take set point at 25-24.

Facing set point, Gardner-Webb stepped up to the challenge, picking up a kill from Murphy and then taking advantage of a Lady Aggies attack error to take its second set point of the frame at 26-25.

Gardner-Webb's Murphy then put the set away with an ace to give the visiting Runnin' Bulldogs the 27-25 first set win.

The second set started out much like the first, as this time GWU took a 1-0 lead on a Lillard kill, but this time the Runnin' Bulldogs refused to relinquish the early lead, using three straight kills from Feldman, Lillard and Murphy to take a 13-7 lead and force a North Carolina A&T timeout.

Out of the timeout, the Lady Aggies slowly fought its way back into the set until back-to-back kills from McDaniel and a third kill from Jillian Nobles cut the Gardner-Webb lead to one at 22-21 and forced a GWU timeout.

A GWU attack error tied the set up at 22-22, however, the Runnin' Bulldogs' picked up a kill from Feldman to retake the lead at 23-22.

The two teams then traded points back-and-forth to put the score at 24-24 when two consecutive kills from Holte and Starr propelled the Runnin' Bulldogs to a 26-24 second set win.

With a 2-0 lead, the Runnin' Bulldogs looked to put the match away with a third set victory, however, the home team had other plans, as the Lady Aggies took an 8-4 lead on a GWU error to start the game.

Gardner-Webb outscored the Lady Aggies 9-6 over the next several rallies, capped off by a 5-0 run from kills from Holte, Murphy and Lillard, to cut the home team's lead to one at 14-13.

A kill from A&T's Stamnes broke a 16-16 tie to push the home team in front by one at 17-16, a lead that the Lady Aggies would hold on to tightly for the remainder of the set as GWU cut the lead to a single point on three different occasions at 22-21, 23-22 and 24-23.

Yet a kill from Stamnes ended the set and put the home team on top for the 25-23 third set win and extend the match to a fourth set.

The Runnin' Bulldogs proved to be too much for the Lady Aggies in the fourth set, as Gardner-Webb took a 10-6 lead to start the set on back-to-back kills from Lillard and an A&T attack error.

After a North Carolina A&T timeout, Gardner-Webb saw the Lady Aggies cut the lead to two on several occasions, but answered with key kills of their own to remain out in front and pull out to a 21-15 lead on another Lady Aggies error.

GWU finished the set off with a 7-0 run, highlighted by five straight North Carolina A&T errors to end the frame, giving the visiting Runnin' Bulldogs the 25-15 fourth set win and the 3-1 match victory.

The Runnin' Bulldogs have won seven of its last 10 games and improved to 6-1 overall in the month of October with the win on Tuesday night.

Gardner-Webb (12-11, 3-2 Big South) will look to avenge an earlier loss this season to the UNC Asheville Bulldogs this Friday night, as the Runnin' Bulldogs will host Asheville at 7 p.m. in Paul Porter Arena. The match will be the annual Dig Pink match for GWU, as the Runnin' Bulldogs encourage all fans to wear pink to the match in support of breast cancer awareness and research.

###