ASHEVILLE, N.C. --- Senior Anna Pashkova (Iowa City, Iowa) recorded a match-high 22 digs to surpass the 2,000-dig plateau for her career and move into second on the program's all-time list, as UNC Asheville rallied for a four-set victory over Gardner-Webb in both teams' Big South Conference opener on Friday evening.
UNC Asheville (8-5, 1-0 Big South) won the match by scores of 18-25, 25-20, 25-17 and 25-22, attacking at a .237 clip while holding Gardner-Webb (4-12, 0-1 Big South) to a hitting percentage of .163. The Bulldogs accounted for 10 blocks on the night, as Gardner-Webb tallied nine stuffs of its own.
"I thought it was a very competitive match," said head coach Leo Sayles. "We need to have a little more grit on the road. I give Asheville a lot of credit, Coach santos made a lineup adjustment in the second set and we did not respond well to the matchups he created. We fought well in the fourth and put ourselves in a position to extend but could not find those extra points to push it to a fifth set. Hopefully next time we will find those extra points and finish."
Tyra Montour (Kennesaw, Ga.) and Jene Lee (San Dimas, Calif.) paced the Gardner-Webb attack with 10 kills each, as Devin Judge (Marietta, Ga.) and Kaelyn Dyson (Holly Springs, N.C.) added eight and seven kills, respectively. Justine Bowers (Dana Point, Calif.) dished out a match-high 33 assists and also posted three kills and two aces.
Sydney Marshall (Norcross, Ga.) tallied a match-high six blocks, as Pashkova recorded a match-high 22 digs to move into second on the program's all-time list with 2,016 digs in her career. With the effort, Pashkova also becomes the first player in the program's Division I era to surpass 2,000 career digs.
Christine Lakatos led the way for Asheville with 16 kills and 11 digs, as Cara Guthrie and Madison Vaughn each added 10 kills. Vaughn chipped in a match-high six blocks, while Bryn Pfeiffer and Guthrie posted 17 and 10 digs, respectively. Amanda Powers dished out 24 assists as Catherine Fischer tallied a match-high four aces.
Gardner-Webb jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the first set, opening the four-point margin on a tandem block by Judge and Lee before a 6-3 Asheville run cut the advantage to 11-10. The Runnin' Bulldogs would answer with a 7-2 spurt, widening the gap to 18-12 following a smash from Judge.
After UNC Asheville countered with a 6-2 run to trim the margin to 20-18, Gardner-Webb responded with five straight points to take a 1-0 lead in the match on a Judge kill.
The two teams battled throughout the second set, with Asheville stringing together an early 10-4 run to take a 15-9 lead on back-to-back kills from Vaughn. Gardner-Webb quickly answered with an 8-2 surge, closing the gap to 17-16 on a block by Montour and Marshall.
Asheville would respond with an 8-4 run of its own, capping the set and evening the match at 1-1 following a Catherine Fischer service ace.
The Bulldogs carried the momentum into the third, starting the set with a 12-4 run before Gardner-Webb responded with a 12-7 spurt to close the gap to 19-16 on a block by Bowers and Marshall. Asheville quickly answered with six of the next seven points, capping the set and taking a 2-1 lead in the match following a kill by Shelby Erickson.
The teams battled through the early moments of the fourth, with Asheville claiming a narrow 12-10 lead following a Vaughn smash. After Gardner-Webb evened the score, 16-16, on a Montour kill, Asheville countered with a 7-5 spurt to take a 23-21 advantage with a Fischer smash.
Lee responded with a smash of her own, halving the margin to 23-22 before a pair of Gardner-Webb miscues gave Asheville a 25-22 victory and a 3-1 win in the match.
Gardner-Webb returns to the court on Friday, October 2 when the Runnin' Bulldogs travel to Lynchburg, Virginia to take on Liberty in Big South Conference play at 7:00 pm.
