VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Virginia Wesleyan University volleyball team handed Bridgewater a 3-1 (23-25, 26-24, 25-21, 25-23) loss at the Jane P. Batten Student Center on Wednesday evening. With the victory, the Marlins improve to 18-6 on the season and improve to 7-1 in conference play. Bridgewater falls to 19-3 on the year and take their first ODAC loss (7-1).

In a match that saw the score tied an astounding 26 times, the marlins were able to pull out the victory. Bridgewater held the lead for a good portion of the second set but were pushed to the brink in the closing moments. Virginia Wesleyan accelerated their push in set two as they found themselves down 24-23. They then used three-straight points, highlighted by a Lauren Topper kill to even the set score to 1-1

Set number three looked similar to the first two, with neither team able to pull away by more than three points. That was until the final serve streak by Amber Matalus that led to the 25-21 win. In the final set of the evening, the teams were dead even as they found themselves in a deadlock 13 times throughout the stanza. With help from a roaring crowd. the Marlins were able to edge out the Eagles I the final two points, sealing the ODAC win.

Topper played extremely well on the right side as her 21 kills tied a career best. Greta Coss contributed to the right side attack as she notched a career-high 18 kills on the evening. Elizabeth Britton and Matalus both chipped in from the other two hitting spots as each finished with nine.

Defenseively, the Marlins had help across the board but Alyssa Taylor led everyone as she her 30 digs tied a career high. Four other players ended with double-digit digs including Sarah Brush (14), Elizabeth Britton (12), Haley Sutton (11) and Meghan Wood (10). At the net Coss and Sydney Collins did well to wall off three Eagle attacks each.

Sutton and Wood were tabbed with setting duties as they finished with 28 and 21 assists, respectively.

Volleyball returns to action again with a doubleheader on Saturday. The Marlins will take on Washington and Lee at 11 a.m. and then square off against Hollins at 3:30 p.m.