The Virginia Wesleyan University women's volleyball team (20-1, 6-0 ODAC) defeated Stevenson, winning 25-20, 28-26, and 25-18, and lost game two against Salisbury 3-1.
Game One:
The Marlins offense was led by
Alexis Shaw as she tallied 11 kills, three digs, one solo block, and two block assists,
Maddie Thompson had a career-high of 11 kills, with a team high .563 hitting percentage, one block assist, and two digs, and
Hannah Smith had eight kills, five service aces, three block assists, with 11 digs.
Niya Nash led the team with 38 assists, recorded 10 digs, and one block assist, and the libero
Skylar Rivers had 13 digs, and one service ace.
The Mustangs came out strong in the first set, building a 7-1 lead early. However, the Marlins chipped away at Stevenson's lead to bring the score to 10-5, but then Virginia Wesleyan went on a monster 8-0 run to take a 13-10 lead midway through the set. With a 4-0 run, the Mustangs were able to gain some momentum and tied the set at 16-16, but the Marlins responded with a 4-0 run to take a 22-18 lead. VWU went on to outscore the Mustangs 3-2 down the stretch to win the set 25-20.
The Marlins carried their momentum into the second set as they jumped out to a 6-1 lead. The two teams traded points to bring the score to 12-6. However, Stevenson went on a 7-2 run to cut the Marlins' lead to 14-13. VWU countered with a 5-2 run to extend their lead to 19-15, but the Mustangs didn't give up and went on an 8-2 run to take a 23-21 lead over Virginia Wesleyan. The Marlins fought back and was able to tie the second set at 24-24 and outscored Stevenson 4-2 the rest of the set to snatch the 28-26 win in set two.
It was a hard fought outing in set three as neither team was able to build a lead. With the Marlins holding a narrow 12-11 lead, their offense erupted with an 8-0 run to lead 20-1. The Mustangs chipped away at the Virginia Wesleyan lead, outscoring them 5-3, but the Marlins' lead was too great, and VWU went on to win the third set 25-18.
Game Two:
Hannah Smith led the offense with 17 kills, 14 digs, five service aces, and one solo block, and
Madi Schmidt had 14 kills, with five digs, one ace, and one block assist.
Alexis Shaw has 12 kills, one dig, and one block assist, and teammate
Niya Nash led the team with 44 assists, had 10 digs, one kill, one service ace, and two block assists.
Salisbury started set one strong, building a 6-2 lead early in the set. The Seagulls followed that up with a 5-2 run to lead 11-4. The Marlins fought back with an 8-3 run to cut the lead to 14-12. VWU kept the pressure on and went on a 3-2 run to bring the score to 16-15, but the Seagulls went on a 3-0 run to lead 19-15. Virginia Wesleyan bounced back and went on a 3-0 run to bring the score to 19-18. However, Salisbury responded with a 5-1 run to lead 24-19, but the Marlins did not give up and went on a 3-1 run. The Seagulls went on to win set one 25-22.
Salisbury started well in set two, jumping out to a 6-1 run, but the Marlins countered with a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 6-5. The two teams traded points that gave Salisbury a 12-9 advantage. However, the Marlins' offense awoke, going on a 5-1 run to take a 14-13 lead. VWU went on to outscore the Seagulls 4-3 to lead 18-16, but Salisbury went on a 6-2 rally to take a 22-20 lead. Salisbury's offense kept up the pressure and went on to win set two 25-22.
Virginia Wesleyan started the third set well, jumping out to a 5-2 lead, and kept up the pressure to take a 10-3 lead. Over the next ten rallies, the two teams split 5-5 to bring the score to 15-8. Salisbury called a timeout and, coming out of the break, had a 5-1 run to cut the Marlins' lead to 16-13. However, the Marlins responded with an 8-3 run to lead 24-16 and went on to win the set 25-18.
In the fourth set, the Seagulls came out strong and built a 6-2 lead early and extended their lead to 10-5 seven points later. Virginia Wesleyan fought back, going on a monster 11-3 run to take a 16-13 lead midway through the set. However, the Seagulls responded with a 10-3 run to take a 23-10 lead to force a VWU timeout, but Salisbury scored the next two points to win set four 25-19.
