Tuesday, November 01, 2005

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 1, 2005) - The East Tennessee State volleyball team dropped a 3-2 heart-breaker to UNC Asheville on Tuesday night in Brooks Gym.  Junior Brittany Kessel (Libertyville, Ill.) posted her third triple-double of the season, recording 14 digs, 34 assists, and a career-best 19 digs, while UNCA's Elif Unlu and Allison Lambert fronted the Bulldog effort with 16 kills apiece.  ETSU falls to 17-11 with the loss, as UNCA jumps to 19-6.

The Bulldogs jumped out to the early 1-0 lead, notching a 30-27 win.  ETSU rebounded with a convincing 30-20 victory, only to have UNCA answer with a 30-24 decision.  The Lady Bucs returned the favor with a 30-27 win in game four, before the Bulldogs claimed match with a 15-10 win in the deciding frame.

"It's a disappointment," said ETSU head coach Lindsey Devine of the loss.  "Now we need to learn from this and get ready for a tough conference game (Florida Atlantic) this weekend."

UNCA out-hit ETSU .237 to .195 for the match.  The Lady Bucs tallied 94 digs to the Bulldogs' 91, in a tough defensive effort by both clubs.  UNCA finished just ahead of ETSU in blocks, making 13.0 total stops to ETSU's 12.0.

Junior Jennifer Sartor (Toronto, Ontario) led the Lady Bucs with 15 kills, along with 19 digs.  Including Sartor, four Lady Bucs contributed double-doubles with Callie Kiselich (Colorado Springs, Colo.) adding 12 kills and 12 digs, and Sarah Buhr (Stockton, Calif.) turning in 13 and 10.  Jennifer Emerson (Santa Clara, Calif.) helped out with 34 assists, along with 11 digs. 

Sara Scandiffio (Purcellville, Va.) and Crystal Palmer (Chico, Calif.) also put up double-digits in the kill column, totaling 12 and 10, respectively.  Defensively, freshman Jayme Barnes (Memphis, Tenn.) notched a career-high 15 digs, while Sartor had a hand in match-high six block assists.

The Lady Bucs put up a 3-0 lead to start game five, but UNCA answered with three points of their own, tying the game at 3-3.  Two Sartor kills and a block by Buhr and Sartor would put the Lady Bucs' lead by to three, but UNCA would rebound again, fighting back to even the score at seven.

A kill by Kiselich would give the Bucs the 8-7 lead, before Unlu fired back with a kill of her own, tying the game at eight.  The Bulldogs snatched the momentum from there, winning seven of the final nine points, including a pair of kills by Lambert, to win the frame, 15-10.

UNCA's Rose Butler and Ashley Wrightenberry added 12 kills for the Bulldogs, with Amanda Wiles and Talia Ogle contributing 20 and 17 digs, respectively.  Wiles handled the Bulldog offense, dishing out a match-best 47 assists.

The Lady Bucs head south for a pair of game this weekend, with Atlantic Sun foe Florida Atlantic scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5 at 2 p.m., and Florida International on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 12 p.m.