Box Score

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BOILING SPRINGS, NC – The Winthrop volleyball team had to fight for a five-set, come-from-behind victory Friday evening over the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs.

The Eagles improved to 13-14 overall and 7-5 in the conference with the win while Gardner-Webb fell to 9-19 overall and 4-7 in the Big South.

Winthrop struggled early, dropping the first two sets each by the score of 25-22.

In the third set Gardner-Webb continued its strong performance and held a 14-11 lead.  The Bulldogs continued to lead at 19-17, but the Eagles fought back with a 5-0 run to go up 22-19 and held on a for a 25-23 third-set victory.

The Eagles got the strong start in the fourth set, jumping out to a 7-4 lead, but Gardner-Webb responded with a 6-1 run to take a 10-8 advantage.  The two teams then battled back and forth with the lead changing hands multiple times.  The teams were tied at 18-18 before Winthrop closed the fourth set on a 7-1 run to win 25-19, forcing a decisive fifth set.

In the fifth set the two teams were even through the first 10 points, but the Eagles were again able to close the set with a strong performance.  Winthrop took 10 of the final 12 points of the fifth set to win 15-7 and the match 3-2.

Rachel Lenz led the Eagles with a career-high 19 kills and three blocks.  Jennica Mullins tallied 11 kills while Carolyn Weed and Amy Zimmer each finished with 10.  Stephanie Palmer finished with 40 assists and Catherine Brusie had 18 digs.

“I'm glad we were able to get a win after being down 0-2 in a hostile environment,” head coach Julie Torbett said.  “We really struggled to start the match against a very scrappy Gardner-Webb team.”

The Eagles will continue on the road Saturday when Winthrop matches up with the UNC Asheville Bulldogs at 2 p.m.