Box Score BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The UVa-Wise women's volleyball team avenged its lone Mountain East Conference loss with a 3-1 (25-23, 19-25, 25-18, 25-23) triumph over West Virginia Wesleyan Friday night on the road.
 
With the win the Cavaliers improve to 8-1 in MEC play and 13-10 overall, while the Lady Bobcats drop to 2-7 in league play and 8-15 overall.
 
The Cavs trailed 13-9 early in the opening set, forcing Head Coach Kristen Salyer to burn a timeout before coming back to tie it up at 17-all. Down 23-21 in first set, UVa-Wise won four consecutive points to take the set 25-23 and the 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Once again the Cavs got down early in the second set and had to take a timeout at 8-3. Despite a couple of stretches of multiple points in a row from the Cavs, the Lady Bobcats remained in the lead and forced another Cavalier timeout down 20-14. However, this time the Cavs won five of the next six points to make it a two-point game at 21-19 before West Virginia Wesleyan scored four unanswered points for the 25-19 set win.
 
UVa-Wise jumped on the Lady Bobcats very early in the third at 4-2 before West Virginia Wesleyan came back to take a 12-9 lead. The Cavs rattled off three points in a row, making it 12-all but West Virginia Wesleyan quickly made it a 17-14 contest. Following a timeout UVa-Wise charged back for six consecutive points, mounting a 20-17 lead. The Cavs won 11 of the last 12 points of the set to take the third 25-18 and a 2-1 match lead.
 
The Cavs looked much more confident in the fourth set as they took a 9-5 lead before the Lady Bobcats earned some hard-fought points and tied it up at nine apiece. Following a timeout UVa-Wise recorded four points in a row for a 13-9 advantage. Both teams went back and forth with the score being tied several times. At 22-22 UVa-Wise took a 23-22 lead and after a West Virginia Wesleyan timeout won two of the next three points to claim the set 25-23 and earn the 3-1 match victory. Freshman outside hitter Ciara Kain had the match-winning kill for the Cavs.
 
UVa-Wise hit .103 for the match off of 49 total kills as West Virginia Wesleyan made 43 kills and held an attack percentage of .070. The Cavs registered 48 assists, tallied 79 digs and had seven total team blocks compared to the Lady Bobcats' 43 assists, 70 digs and 13 total team blocks.
 
Junior outside hitter Karley Allen led the Cavs with 15 kills and 17 digs. The Lanexa, Virginia (New Kent H.S.), native moved into fourth place on UVa-Wise's all-time career digs list having recorded 995 digs in her career and surpassing coach Salyer's mark of 985. Allen is now only five digs away from becoming the first Cav to ever record 1,000 kills and digs in her career.
 
Kain totaled 10 kills in the match while freshman middle blocker Amanda Auxier added nine more of her own. Junior defensive specialist Erin Anderson got a career-high in digs on the night as she registered a match-high 23. Junior libero Erin Lee contributed 16 digs, while freshman setter Chandler Rouse continued her fine play with 44 assists in the four sets.
 
Stacie Baumann led West Virginia Wesleyan with 14 kills as Hannah Moore made 19 digs and knocked in eight kills. The Lady Bobcats also got 16 digs from Lexi Walsh.
 
"Coming back and taking that first set was huge", coach Salyer commented. "I think it gave us a little bit of confidence but going into the second set we kind got ourselves a in a hole there. We fought back well in the second set; if we would have eliminated that run in the beginning we may have taken that set too. I think we realized how bad we needed this match conference wise to stay where we are in the standings. They rallied and took care of business there at the end. It wasn't always pretty but we did get the win so we'll take that."
 
The Cavs will have a quick turnaround as they remain on the road Saturday for a 1 p.m. conference contest at Glenville State.
 
After Saturday's match the Cavs will return to Wise and step out of league play for a tilt with King University Wednesday night at 7 p.m. UVa-Wise will then host senior night next Friday at 5 p.m. inside the David J. Prior Convocation Center as the Cavs battle MEC foe and nationally-ranked Wheeling Jesuit University.
 
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