The Virginia Wesleyan University women's volleyball team (16-0) went 2-0 today with a 3-1 win over Haverford, winning 25-21, 25-12, 22-25, and 25-20, and a 3-0 sweep of CNU, winning 25-17, 25-23, and 30-28.
Match One:
Hannah Smith led the team with 17 kills, two service aces, two block assists, and 14 digs. With the 14 digs, Smith has entered the 1,000 dig club. She is the 11th player in program history to hit he 1,000 digs milestone.
Alexis Shaw did well with 14 kills, with a .275 hitting percentage, two block assists, and four digs.
Madi Schmidt did well with nine kills, 13 digs, two service aces, and one block assist, and
Brianna Clay had nine kills, with a .500 hitting percentage, and two block assists.
Niya Nash led the team with 48 assists, had three kills, 18 digs, one block assist, and one service ace, and teammate
Skylar Rivers led the team with 22 digs, she had seven assists, and three service aces.
Virginia Wesleyan surged ahead 4-2 to open the match. Haverford responded with a 4-1 run for a 6-5 edge, but the Marlins countered 4-1 to lead 9-7. Haverford answered again, going up 11-10, before both teams traded rallies. The Marlins closed set one with a decisive 5-0 run to win 25-21.
VWU established a 7-2 advantage early in the second set. The Marlins later expanded their lead with a 7-1 run, making it 14-5. Haverford tried to rally, trimming the score to 18-11, but the Marlins pulled away on a 7-1 run to secure set two 25-12.
In the third set, the Marlins started well, building a 6-3 lead, but Haverford fought back and grabbed the lead at 8-7. The two teams traded points while no team built a strong lead, until Haverford went on a 4-1 run to lead 15-14 to grab the momentum. It was still a close set, but Haverford ended the set on a 5-3 run to win the set 25-22.
After dropping the third set to bring the score to 2-1, Virginia Wesleyan came out swinging and built an 8-4 lead to start set four. The Marlins continued their good run of play and went on a 4-1 run midway through the set to hold a 19-13 lead. Haverford came back with a 7-4 run to cut the deficit to 23-20, but the Marlins scored the next two points to win 25-20.
Match Two:
Hannah Smith led the team with 13 kills, 18 digs, and two service aces,
Breana Brooks registered 12 kills, with a .550 hitting percentage, and two block assists, and
Alexis Shaw had 11 kills, with a .375 hitting percentage, two digs, one solo block, and two block assists.
Niya Nash recorded 44 assists, two kills, and 16 digs, and teammate
Skylar Rivers had 16 digs, six assists, and one service ace.
In set one against the Captains, Virginia Wesleyan came out hot building a 7-3 lead. CNU scored the next two points to stop the rally, but then VWU went on a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 12-5. The Captains pushed harder and began to chip away at the Marlins' lead with a 7-5 run to cut the lead to 17-12. Virginia Wesleyan ended that with a 6-2 run to lead 23-14. The Captains had a late 3-0 surge, but VWU won set one 25-17.
Virginia Wesleyan kept their momentum into the second set and built up an 11-6. However, the Captains rallied back to bring the score to 16-13 midway through the set. The Marlins went on a 6-2 run to take a 21-14 lead. CNU countered with a 9-3 run to cut the lead to 24-23, but a kill from
Madi Schmidt sealed the set two win at 25-23.
With a 2-0 set lead, the Marlins built up to an 8-3 run, but the host fought back to cut the lead to 11-10. The two teams traded points until the Captains went on a 6-2 rally to lead 19-18. VWU responded with a 5-3 run to lead 23-22, but the two teams traded points and brought the score all the way to 27-27. In the closing rallies of the third set, the Marlins' offense caught fire and went on a 3-1 run to seal the 30-28 sweep of CNU.
