Box Score WISE, Va. – The UVa-Wise volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-15) loss to Fairmont State University Friday night in the David J. Prior Convocation Center. The Fighting Falcons (18-12, 10-5 MEC) came back in a close, hard-fought opening set and then topped the Cavaliers (9-23, 7-8 MEC) in the second and third sets to earn the Mountain East Conference sweep.
 
Visiting Fairmont State hit .333 for the match and recorded 48 total kills, registering 15 or more in each set to upend the homestanding Cavs. UVa-Wise made 10 or more kills in each set and swung at a mark of .165, claiming 38 total kills but no blocks. The Fighting Falcons tallied nine total team blocks and earned seven aces while making 34 digs as the Cavs got to 32 digs.
 
After a 14-14 tie in the first set, UVa-Wise rattled off four-straight points and six of the next seven to take a promising 20-15 lead. The two teams split the next four points before the Cavs got kills from sophomore right side hitter Amanda Auxier (Midlothian, Va.) and senior middle blocker Santana Bishop (Gate City, Va.) to go up 24-20. From there, the Fighting Falcons claimed four consecutive points to knot the score up once again at 24-24. After a kill by senior outside hitter Erin Anderson (Richmond, Va.), Fairmont State earned three straight points, two of which were service aces, to win the opening set 27-25.
 
UVa-Wise struggled to get things going early in the second and found themselves down 6-1 before getting within one several times and finally tying up the score at 19-19. Tied at 20-20, Fairmont State began their late-set surge once again and claimed five of the next six points to win the second set 25-21. The Fighting Falcons rushed out to another early lead in the third and went up by six at 10-4 before stretching their lead to seven at 15-8. The Cavs wouldn't be able to get any closer than five for the rest of the set as Fairmont State cruised to a 25-15 third-set win to clinch the three-set victory.
 
Senior outside hitter Karley Allen (Lanexa, Va.) registered a team-high 10 kills and made a team-high eight digs, while Auxier finished with nine kills and Anderson tallied six kills and made eight digs. Freshman setter Morgan Milligan (Bridgewater, Va.) assisted on 33 of the Cavs' 38 kills and also served one ace as senior libero Erin Lee (Fincastle, Va.) got to six digs and sophomore outside hitter Kyra Jessee (Weber City, Va.) collected a service ace of her own.
 
Mackenzie Harrison made a match-high 19 kills for Fairmont State and Breanna Blot connected on 10 as Julia Shemaitis, Rebecca Feeney and Kayla Smith each contributed six more. Feeney made a match-high six blocks while Harrison added three of her own and served three aces. The Fighting Falcons got two blocks, two service aces and five digs from Jessica Furda, who also dished out a match-high 42 assists. Megan Clerico secured Fairmont State's back line with 10 digs and Sydney McCoy recorded seven more.
 
The Cavs host Shepherd University tomorrow at 1 p.m. for Senior Day 2016 to wrap up the regular season.
 
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