The Virginia Wesleyan University women's volleyball team (23-1, 9-0 ODAC) defeated conference opponent EMU 3-0, winning 25-19, 25-23, and 25-12.
Hannah Smith led the offense with 10 kills, two aces, one block assist, and eight digs.
Brianna Clay recorded eight kills, with a .412 hitting percentage, one service ace, and one block assist.
Breana Brooks had eight kills, with a .667 hitting percentage, and two block assists.
Niya Nash led the team with 27 assists, had two kills, three aces, one block assist, and nine digs, and teammate
Skylar Rivers had seven digs as the libero, one ace, and four assists.
The two teams kept it tight in the first set as they kept the score close at 4-4. The Marlins' offense exploded, going on an 11-2 run to take a 15-6 lead, forcing an EMU timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Royals chipped away at the Marlins' lead, going on an 11-6 run to bring the score to 21-17. However, VWU outscored the host 4-2 to win set one 25-19.
Virginia Wesleyan kept up the momentum in the second set, as they jumped out to a 7-3 lead. VWU went on to extend their lead with an 8-4 run to lead 15-7 midway through the set. The Royals fourgh back and went on a 7-3 run to cut the lead to 18-14. EMU kept chipping away at the lead, outscoring the Marlins 9-7 the rest of the set, but VWU outlasted the Royals and won the second set 25-23.
In the third set, the Marlins came out hot, building a 6-0 lead fast, and followed that run with another 12-4 run to lead 18-4. With a commanding lead, the Marlins went on to win the third set 25-12.
