The Virginia Wesleyan University women's volleyball team (8-0) defeated Marville 3-1, winning 16-25, 25-21, 26-24, and 25-19. The Marlins had a hard-fought contest against Meredith in a five-set match, winning 22-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-14, and 15-11.
Game One:
Alexis Shaw led the Marlins with 14 kills, a .619 hitting percentage, three digs, one block assist, and two solo blocks.
Hannah Smith had nine kills, one service ace, and 12 digs.
Brianna Clay recorded seven kills, a .357 hitting percentage, three digs, one block assist, and one solo block, and teammate
Niya Nash led the team with 34 assists, had three kills, five service aces, and six digs.
The Marlins started well, holding a 4-3 lead early, but the Scots went on a 4-2 run to take a 7-6 lead. Virginia Wesleyan countered with a 4-1 run to take a 10-8 lead. However, Maryville responded with a 5-1 run to retake the lead at 13-11. VWU fought back, going on a 4-1 run to hold a slight 15-14 lead. Maryville had a monstrous rally going on an 11-1 run to win the first set 25-16.
Marybville came out in the second set carrying their momentum from the first set to take a 4-1 lead. Virginia Wesleyan came back and went on a 3-1 run to cut the lead to 5-4. The Scots scored the next two points to lead 7-4, but the Marlins responded with an 8-2 run to take a 12-9 lead. Each team scored three points over the next six rallies, but then the Scots strung together a 3-0 run to tie the set at 15-15. VWU's offense took charge and went on a 4-1 run to lead 19-16 and continued their good run of play to take a 22-18 lead late in the set. The two teams traded points the rest of the set, which saw the Marlins win set two 25-21.
In the third set, the Scots built a solid lead early in the set, jumping out to a 6-2 lead. However, the Marlins fought back, going on a 4-0 run to tie the set at 6-6, but Maryville responded with a 6-1 run to increase their lead to 12-7. Maryville kept up the pressure and went on a 4-1 run to extend their lead to 17-10. Down by seven, the Virginia Wesleyan offense caught fire and went on an 11-1 run to take a 22-19 lead. The Scots came back with a 3-0 run to tie the set at 24-24, but the Marlins scored the next two points to win the set 26-24.
A highly contested fourth set as the teams could not be separated, until the Scots went on a 4-1 run to lead 9-7. However, the Marlins quickly responded with an 8-0 run to take a 15-9 lead midway through the set. The two teams traded points to bring the score to 21-14, but Maryville started to chip away at the Marlins' lead, going on a 5-2 run to cut the lead to 23-19. VWU scored the next two points to win the fourth set 25-19.
Game Two:
Alexis Shaw led the Marlins offense with 17 kills, three digs, and two block assists,
Brianna Clay had a great game with 15 kills, a .419 hitting percentage, two digs, and two block assists, and
Hannah Smith recorded 14 kills, with a .258 hitting percentage, had a team-high 26 digs, one assist, one block assists, one solo block, and four service aces.
Niya Nash led the team with 49 assists, four kills, nine digs, one block assist, one solo block, and three service aces, and teammate
Skylar Rivers registered 23 digs and had two assists.
The Angels started the game well, building a 6-3 lead early in the first set. Meredith kept their three point lead at 9-6 until the Marlins went on an 8-1 run to take a 14-10 lead. However, Meredith fought back, outscoring the host 8-4 to tie the set at 18-18. VWU went on a 3-1 run to lead 21-19, but the Angels responded with a 6-1 run to win the set at 25-22.
Meredith started well, jumping out to a 6-2 lead to start the second set, but the Marlins responded with an 8-2 run to take a 10-8 lead. The Angels countered with a 3-0 run to lead 11-10, but VWU responded with a 9-4 run to take a 19-15 lead. Meredith's offense caught fire and went on to outscore the Marlins 9-1 to lead 24-20 and went on to win the set 25-21.
Virginia Wesleyan started well, going on a 3-0 run to start the set, but the Angels responded with a 9-2 run to lead 9-5. The Marlins kept at it and went on a 6-1 run to take an 11-10 lead in the set. The two teams traded points to tie the set at 13-13. The Marlins rallied, going on an 8-0 run to lead 21-13. Each team scored four points for the rest of the game to give the Marlins the set at 25-17.
The Marlins got out to an early 4-1 lead to start the fourth set, but the Angels chipped away at the lead to bring the score to 7-6. A kill from
Brianna Clay sparked a 12-3 run for the Marlins that gave them a 19-9 lead. The Angels went on a 3-1 run to cut the lead to 12-20, but the Marlins outscored Meredith 5-2 the rest of the set to win 25-14, to force a fifth set.
In the fifth set, the two teams were evenly matched early, tied at 3-3, but the Marlins went on the first run of the set to lead 6-4. Meredith responded with a 5-2 run to take a 9-8 lead, but Virginia Wesleyan countered with a 7-2 run to win the fifth set 15-11.
