The Virginia Wesleyan University women's volleyball team (19-3, 9-1 ODAC) defeated conference foe 3-0 on the road, winning 25-15, 25-19, and 25-20.
Hannah Smith led the offense as she had 14 kills, a .323 hitting percentage, and nine digs,
Emma Claytor had a good game with 10 kills, a .421 hitting percentage, three block assists, and one dig, and
Madi Schmidt tallied 10 kills, seven digs, and two block assists.
Salena Jones led the team with 22 assists, had eight digs, and one service ace, and teammate
Madeleine Hanes registered a team-high 16 digs and had two assists.
Virginia Wesleyan started strong and jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set. The Yellow Jackets countered with a 4-2 run to cut the lead to 7-5, but the Marlins went on a 4-1 run to take an 11-6 lead. RMC scored two back-to-back points, but the Marlins responded with a 4-0 run to extend their lead to 15-8. Randolph-Macon rallied with a 6-2 run to bring the score to 17-14. That sparked the Marlins offense as VWU went on a 8-1 run to win the first set 25-15.
At home, the crowd fueled the momentum shift as the Yellow Jackets built a 6-3 lead in the second set. The Marlins countered with a 5-1 run to take an 8-7 lead. Over the next ten points, VWU outscored RMC 7-3 to lead 15-11 midway through the set. The two teams traded points with the Marlins inched out to a 20-15 lead. The Yellow Jackets responded with a 3-0 run to cut the lead to 20-18, but VWU went on a 5-1 run to win the second set 25-19.
In the third set, Randolph-Macon jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Marlins came back with a 7-1 run to take a 7-5 lead over the host. However, the Yellow Jackets didn't go away and went on a 3-1 run to tie the set at 8-8. VWU's offense caught fire and outscored the Yellow Jackets 7-3 to lead 15-11 midway through the set. However, RMC countered with a 6-1 run to retake the lead at 17-16. With the third set tight, the Marlins outscored the host 4-3 to tie the third set at 20-20.
Hannah Smith put the team on her back and scored the next three points to lead 23-20 and VWU went on to win the next two points to win the third set 25-20 and seal the 3-0 win over the Yellow Jackets.
