ROCK HILL, SC – Sophomore Rachel Lenz tallied a career-high 21 kills Saturday as the Winthrop volleyball team upended the UNC Asheville Bulldogs 3-2 and secured its spot in the Big South volleyball tournament.

Winthrop's victory improved its record to 15-12 overall and 6-7 in the conference while UNC Asheville fell to 17-11 overall and 7-5 in conference.  The Winthrop win coupled with a Campbell loss to Liberty secured Winthrop's place in the Big South tournament in late November.

In addition to her career-high 21 kills, Lenz also tied a career-high with nine total blocks.  Irene Ojukwu tallied 19 kills and finished with a .500 hitting percentage.  Jessie Vicic finished with 70 assists and 10 digs while Michelle Steagall led the Eagles with 20 digs.

As a team the Eagles finished with .350 hitting percentage which set a new school record for attack percentage in a five-set match. 

Winthrop had a very impressive first set victory, hitting .682 as a team with only one error.  Rachel Lenz tallied seven kills in the first set.  The Eagles led by three at 12-9 and then went on a 11-1 run en route to taking the first set 25-12.

The second set was much more tightly contested.  Winthrop was able to get out to an early 11-5 lead, forcing the Bulldogs to take a timeout.  Out of the break UNC Asheville was able to cut the Eagle lead down to three at 13-10.  Winthrop's lead continued to hover in the 3-4 point range and the Bulldogs took their second timeout with the Eagles leading 22-18. 

The timeout again worked in the Asheville favor as they ran off five straight points to take a 23-22 advantage, forcing Winthrop to take a timeout.  The Eagles pulled back one point, but that was it as the Bulldogs took the final two to take the second set 25-23.

The Eagles responded well from the second-set setback.  After a 4-0 lead by the Eagles forced the Bulldogs into a timeout, UNC Asheville got back within two at 5-3.  Winthrop then went on an 8-0 run to open a commanding 13-3 lead.  The Eagles were then able to easily take the third set 25-11.

Winthrop had a strong start to the fourth set, going up 5-2, but UNC Asheville battled back to tie the set at 7-7.  The Eagles then went on a 7-2 run to open a 14-9 advantage, forcing the Bulldogs into a timeout.  Winthrop increased its lead to 21-15 and looked to be on its way to victory, but in an almost mirror to the second set, Asheville stormed its way back to take a 24-22 lead and took the fourth set 25-23.

As they had done through the first four sets, Winthrop again started on a positive note early in the fifth set taking a 6-3 lead, sending the Bulldogs into a timeout.  The Eagles continued to attack and increased their lead to 10-5, forcing UNC Asheville to take its second timeout.  This set the timeouts didn't help the Bulldogs as the Eagles went on to take the fifth set 15-7.

The Eagles will round out their non-conference slate of games Tuesday evening at The Citadel in a 5 p.m. matchup against the Bulldogs.  Winthrop defeated The Citadel 3-1 earlier this season in the Winthrop Invitational.