Friday, November 17, 2006

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- With three players racking up double-doubles, No. 4 Jacksonville defeated No. 5 Gardner-Webb, 3-1 (27-30, 30-15, 30-20, 30-23), at the 2006 Atlantic Sun Volleyball Championship hosted by Belmont University.

In their first tournament appearance, the Bulldogs came out to a running start, hitting .406 in game one to take the 30-27 win. Both teams tallied 17 kills in the game, but it was seven errors that caused Jacksonville to fall behind.

Behind the hitting of Katie Hendrian, Petya Borisova, Eva Stoilova and Stevenique Richardson, the Dolphins rallied back, to advance to their third consecutive semifinal. In game two, Jacksonville took a 24-12 lead and Gardner-Webb was unable to recover. It was more of the same in game three when the Dolphinis took an early 11-3 lead, but the Bulldogs continued to fight back, putting points on the board.

In game four, the Jacksonville defense and hard swinging was too much for young Gardner-Webb squad to handle. Gardner-Webb's Ashley Pridgeon collected a match high 16 kills and posted 11 digs, Bethany Martin had 10 kills, while All-Freshman pick Regina Feagin had 44 assists.

Jacksonville had three players post double-doubles. Hendrian hit .571, tallying 14 kills, 16 digs, Borisova tallied 14 kills, 15 digs, and Stoilova recorded 13 kills, 10 digs. Second team All-Atlantic Sun selection Stevenique Richardson had 12 kills and six blocks.

Jacksonville will take on top-seeded ETSU in the afternoon match at 4:30 p.m. The match can be seen live via the Atlantic Sun website.