Volleyball Preview: Charleston Southern

The Bulldogs will look to remain undefeated in conference play tomorrow night when they host Charleston Southern at the Justice Center. Something will have to give in the match, as the Buccaneers (10-7, 1-1) boast the Big South’s best hitting percentage at .250, while the Bulldogs (13-5, 2-0) lead the conference in opponent hitting percentage, allowing just .167.

Charleston Southern had a six-game win streak broken up on Tuesday night, losing at home to Winthrop in consecutive sets. Just three nights before, Buccaneers had opened conference play with a convincing three set victory over Presbyterian. CSU has faced a number of the same opponents as UNC Asheville this season, and had little difficulty dispatching the Citadel, South Carolina State, and Savannah State. In the opening weekend of the season, however, the Bucs fell in straight sets to North Carolina State, a team that the Bulldogs topped en route to their USC Upstate Invitational championship.

Preseason all-conference selection Amanda Hill has lived up to the hype thus far for the Bucs. Her .312 hitting percentage ranks her fourth in the Big South, and she is second in the conference in kills and ninth in digs. Fellow junior Cori Holeman is also a key component of the dangerous CSU attack, ranking eighth in attack percentage and second in blocks.

The Bulldogs have had a week to rest since an inspired, come-from-behind victory at Radford last Friday night. Middle blocker Lauren Ficker was the star of that performance, with 16 kills and 14 digs. The senior’s .339 season hitting percentage is second-best in the conference. Asheville has also been able to rely on consistently outstanding performances from senior libero Raquel Miotto, who leads the conference in digs and ranks second in service aces, and from junior setter Rachel Guinane, who is eighth in assists and has a team-high .379 hitting percentage (Guinane does not have enough total attacks to qualify for the Big South leaderboard).

UNC Asheville and Charleston Southern split their two matches last season, with each taking five sets to decide. Tomorrow night’s battle should be equally competitive as the teams battle for position in the conference standings.

Go Bulldogs!!!