Box Score WISE, Va. – The UVa-Wise women's volleyball team swept visiting West Virginia State 3-0 Friday night at the David J. Prior Convocation Center to improve to 2-0 in Mountain East Conference play this season.
 
The Cavaliers (6-6, 2-0 MEC) earned their third win in a row and their fifth consecutive game at home spanning back to last year by dominating the match from the beginning. The 25-18, 25-11, 25-20 straight-set win against the Yellow Jackets (3-7, 0-1 MEC) gives the Cavs a 2-0 start in league play, their best start since joining the MEC in 2013.
 
Hitting .304 for the match the Cavs recorded 50 total kills, 21 of those coming in the first set alone, compared to West Virginia State's 29 kills and attack percentage of .150.
 
UVa-Wise took the early lead in the first set and didn't let up before claiming the opening set 25-18 behind seven kills from junior outside hitter Karley Allen and a team attack percentage of .386.
 
The Cavs were even more dominant in the second set as they allowed the Yellow Jackets to score only 11 points the entire set. UVa-Wise hit .308 in the set and held West Virginia State to an attack percentage of -.032.
 
UVa-Wise jumped out to a quick lead in the third set by claiming the first four points of the set and held a 6-1 advantage before the Yellow Jackets were forced to call a timeout. Despite a strong push from West Virginia State in the third, the Cavs never trailed in the set and were steady in taking the set 25-20 to close out the match.
 
The Cavs recorded 60 total digs in the match and 47 assists, while West Virginia State was only able to make 47 digs and 27 assists.
 
Allen led the Cavs offensively with 16 kills and three aces followed by freshman middle blocker Amanda Auxier, who hit .375 and collected 12 kills. Freshman outside hitter Ciara Kain also added 10 more kills for UVa-Wise.
 
Defensively senior outside hitter Kelsey Smith recorded a career-high 15 digs to lead the Cavs as junior middle blocker Erin Anderson made 13 digs and Allen tallied 13.
 
Freshman setter Chandler Rouse continued her fine play with 44 total assists in the match.
 
Allen is now only 22 kills away from becoming just the fourth Cav to ever reach 1,000 kills in her career.
 
Rebekah Baldwin led the Yellow Jackets' offense with eight kills while Brooke Cieslewski and Brenna Barker tallied 12 and 11 digs, respectively, to anchor West Virginia State's defense. Mallory Rennard made a team-high 14 assists for the Yellow Jackets.
 
The Cavs will now have the rest of the weekend off from competition before stepping out of league play and traveling to face Virginia Sate Tuesday in Richmond, first serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.
 
Following Tuesday's match UVa-Wise will take on MEC foe West Liberty on the road Friday.