Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 MISENHEIMER, N.C. – The UVa-Wise women's volleyball team began the 2015 season Friday splitting matches against Slippery Rock and Johnson C. Smith. The Cavaliers defeated Johnson C. Smith 3-0 after falling 3-1 to Slippery Rock this afternoon at the Falcon Classic in Misenheimer, North Carolina.
 
Earning its first win of the season in the evening match, UVa-Wise swept Johnson C. Smith 3-0 (25-16, 25-8, 25-16) to improve to 1-1. The Cavs used a strong second-set offensive attack and kept the Golden Bulls to an attack percentage of just -.117 for the match.
 
UVa-Wise jumped out to a 1-0 set lead after both teams struggled offensively in the first set. The Cavs hit only .033 as Johnson C. Smith hit .038 in the opening set. Junior outside hitter Karley Allen led the Cavs with a set-high five kills and six digs in the first set, while sophomore outside hitter Samantha Edge tallied a match-high three aces.
 
The second set proved dominant for the Red and Gray as the Cavs only allowed eight points by the Golden Bulls. Holding Johnson C. Smith to an -.462 attack percentage, UVa-Wise hit .667 with 11 kills on 15 total attempts. Junior middle blocker Santana Bishop recorded two aces in the set as the Cavs used a balanced offensive attack.
 
The final set was more of the same from the Cavs as they earned a .323 attack percentage for the set behind Allen's set-high six kills and an additional four more from junior middle blocker Lindsey Tucker. The Cavs held Johnson C. Smith to hitting -.095 in the third set.
 
Overall the Cavs hit .276 for the match with 35 kills and 30 assists. Allen led the offense with a match-high 13 kills while making eight digs. Tucker recorded eight kills as freshman setter Abbie Hardesty created a match-high 28 assists. The Cavs also tallied a total of 10 aces for the match
 
Anteesha Snoots led Johnson C. Smith with five kills as Khadijah Segura made 11 assists and had five digs.
 
In the first match of the day and the first contest of the 2015 season, the Cavs fell to Slippery Rock 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 23-25, 25-21). UVa-Wise was unable to get its offense going early as the Cavs hit .145 for the match, recording a total of 43 kills as a team.
 
Slippery Rock jumped out to an early first-set lead as the Rock came out firing on all cylinders, hitting .481 for the set with 15 kills. On the contrary, the Cavs hit .194 and recorded only eight total digs in the opening set.
 
The second set proved much of the same as UVa-Wise hit .162 and tallied 11 kills, while Slippery Rock hit .324 and recorded 14 more kills. Both teams had 15 digs in the second set.
 
Falling behind two sets to none, UVa-Wise claimed the third set with a 25-23 win highlighted by a set-high six kills from Allen and seven digs by junior libero Erin Lee. The Cavs recorded 21 total digs in the set and 13 kills, keeping Slippery Rock at a .205 attack percentage.
 
Despite knotting the fourth set up at 15 a piece after an ace from Edge, the Cavs weren't able to hold on as Slippery Rock took the set and the match 25-21. Both teams hit poorly in the final set with UVa-Wise hitting only .061 and Slippery Rock falling to a .128 attack percentage.
 
Allen led UVa-Wise in kills for the match with 14, followed by freshman outside hitter Ciara Kain with 12 and freshman middle blocker Amanda Auxier with eight. The Cavs recorded 60 total digs in the match as Lee tallied 14 and both Allen and Edge added 13. Hardesty recorded 29 of the Cavs' 42 assists while Edge also contributed two aces.
 
Leah Jones led Slippery Rock with 16 kills as Courtney Oberlander tallied 21 digs and Haley Defibaugh had 47 assists. The Rock recorded 56 total kills in the match to go along with 67 digs and 54 assists.
 
"I was proud of how we battled back and took the third set against Slippery Rock", Head Coach Kristen Salyer commented on the day's action. "We started off slow in the first couple of sets, but were able to gain momentum and take that one. I think that is something to build on. We had them where we wanted them in the fourth set and made errors at crucial points."
 
"We know what we need to work on and will continue to do that every point. I think our leadership was great today and it is definitely promising for our future."
 
The match against Slippery Rock marked the first UVa-Wise athletic event, regardless of sport, to take place as full NCAA Division II members.
 
Tomorrow the Cavs will continue play in the Falcon Classic as they face tournament host Pfeiffer University at 11 a.m. before facing Salem International at 3 p.m.
 
Live stats will be available for the match against Peiffer by going to uvawisecavs.com and clicking here.