The Virginia Wesleyan University women's volleyball team (23-4, 10-1 ODAC) defeated conference opponent Averett 3-0, winning 25-15, 25-10, and 25-23.
Hannah Smith led the Marlins with 12 kills, a .269 hitting percentage, eight digs, and one solo block,
Madi Schmidt recorded nine kills, a .304 hitting percentage, seven digs, two solo blocks, one block assist, one assist, and one service ace, and
Alexis Shaw registered 10 kills, a .529 hitting percentage, two digs, and one block assist.
Salena Jones tallied 23 assists to put her at 1,001 career assists, she also had eight digs, and two service aces, and teammate
Madeleine Hanes tallied 12 digs and three service aces.
Virginia Wesleyan jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, but the Cougars went on a 3-1 run to cut the lead to 6-4. The Marlins responded with a 9-1 run to lead 14-5 midway through the set. Averett chipped away at the host lead and brought the score to 19-14, but VWU outscored the Cougars 6-1 to win the first set 25-15.
Averett fought back in set two, building a 4-2 lead to start the set. However, the Marlins went on a monster 19-3 run to lead 21-7. The Cougars scored the next two points to bring the score to 21-9, but VWU went on a 4-1 run to win set two 25-10.
At the start of the third set, both teams were evenly matched as they were tied at 7-7 early. The Marlins went on a 4-1 run to lead 11-8, but Averett countered with a 5-0 run to take a 13-11 lead. Virginia Wesleyan countered with an 8-3 run to lead 19-16. However, Averett did not give up and went on a 5-2 run to tie the set at 21-21. VWU went on a 3-0 run to lead 24-21, but the Cougars scored the next two points to threaten the Marlins match point, but a kill from
Emma Claytor won the third set 25-23.
