ASHEVILLE, N.C.- Presbyterian College volleyball completed the first season of Division I action, a season in which they won 20 games, with a road loss to UNC Asheville 24-30, 24-30, 30-25, 22-30. The Blue Hose finished with a 20-13 overall record and 6-8 against Big South Conference opposition.

Presbyterian was led by Lauren Mason with 13 kills. Mason surpassed Tonya Williams (1987-90; 1,487 kills) on the all-time Blue Hose kills list, leaving with 1,497 in her four-year career. Junior Justine Lanchester had 12 kills, with front row teammates Kelsey McKee (11 kills) and Amanda Kettles adding 10 kills. Elizabeth Heineman contributed 19 digs.

Six ties in the first 24 points of the game, including a 12-12 tie, was broken when UNCA got back-to-back kills by Ashley Wrightenberry. PC got an offensive lift from Kelsey McKee, who drove three kills past the Bulldogs defense, tying the game for a final time at 18-18. UNCA responded with an 8-2 burst, taking advantage of two kills each by Lauren Ficker and Alysha Greer, assuming 27-21 lead. The Blue Hose were unable to answer, despite kills by Mason and Swain, as they fell 30-22.

PC grabbed an early lead in game three behind a Mason service ace, before the game reached a series of ties, the last coming at 10-10. After attack errors by the Bulldogs and a service ace from Heineman, PC took a lead that it would not relinquish. Critical kills during the middle of the match by Amanda Kettles, Lanchester and Mason created a distance in scoring that reached 20-15 in favor of the Blue Hose. Heineman again stepped up in the waning stages of the match, forcing consecutive attack errors, before kills by Kettles and the game clinching by Heather Swain for the 30-25 final.

The Bulldogs (10-22) took each of the first two games against PC, marking the first time since falling 0-2 to Winthrop, that the Blue Hose trailed by a two-game deficit. The momentum from the first game win carried over early in the second, as the score reached 10-4 in favor of UNCA. PC's front row of Lanchester, Lewis, Mason and McKee put together a series of kills to narrow the margin to 15-9. The Bulldogs would again put together a series of points, this time behind the service game of Raquel Miotto, which extended the advantage to 19-12. Battling through back-and-forth scoring, along with three kills by Lanchester, PC would pull wihin five points however the game fell the way of UNCA.

In the first game, UNCA broke a 10-10 tie with a five point run that was highlighted by kills by Lauren Ficker and Kelsey Benorden. PC rallied with four straight points of their own, to pull within one point, before the lead was stretched to 21-15 in favor of the Bulldogs. Three kills by Lauren Mason and service aces by Justine Lanchester and Elizabeth Heineman kept the score close at 25-23. However, a series of kills by Ficker and Alysha Greer accounted for two of the final five points in the 30-25 win.

UNC Asheville vs. Presbyterian Post Game Notes

• Rachel Lewis (4,394 assists) is 150 assists shy of the all-time PC assist record which is currently held by Jenny Frieling.

• Lauren Mason, eighth on the all-time list in kills, is the fourth player since rally scoring to begin (2002) to reach 500 kills for PC.

• Freshman Elizabeth Heineman (534 digs) is the first Blue Hose player to reach the 500-dig plateau since Donja Bobbitt (505, 2004).