WISE – The UVA Wise volleyball team will continue tuning up for South Atlantic Conference play as they make a trip to Saint Leo, Florida, this weekend to compete in the Lions Volleyball Fall Tournament hosted by Saint Leo University.

They will face Saint Michael's, Valdosta State, St. Edwards, and Saint Leo in the two-day tournament. More information about the tournament can be found by clicking the link above for the tournament's home page.

After this weekend, apart from home matches vs. Concord and Converse and a road match as Erskine, the schedule ramps up as the team will face SAC opponents the rest of the season.

GETTING WISE
- The squad takes a 3-1 record into the weekend as they defeated West Alabama, King, and Bluefield State in the Cavalier Classic last weekend. Their lone loss was to a very strong Lees-McRae squad in a hard-fought 3-1 contest.
- Kaylee Scarce leads the team in kills on the season with 45, including 16 vs. Bluefield State. She is averaging 3.46 kills a set, which ranks her second in the SAC. Riley Brandon is second on the team with 28 kills, followed closely by Serina Petersen with 21.
- Defensively, Abigail Curtis leads the team in digs with 74 (5.69 per set – second in the SAC), while Scarce is second on the team with 37. Kamryn Livingston (33) and Lily Gutierrez (30) also are key players on the defensive end.
- As a team the Highland Cavaliers are hitting .139 offensively with 12.0 kills per set and are averaging 18.38 digs per set.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
About Saint Michael's
- This opponent, along with St. Edward's, West Alabama, Valdosta State, and Saint Leo, highlights the nationwide reach that UVA Wise athletics now has since joining the Division II ranks in 2012. Saint Michael's is located just outside Burlington, Vermont, and is located less than 100 miles from Montreal. (More about the others when we get to them.) This is the first meeting between the two schools and represents the northernmost team the Cavs have ever faced.
- The Purple Knights are currently 2-1 on the season. They went 1-1 in a tri-match last Saturday vs, Plymouth State (L, 2-3) and Assumption (W, 3-1) and also picked up the 3-1 win over Middlebury Tuesday evening.
- This is the first match this season outside of the Ross Sports Center for the Purple Knights. They have played a pair of preseason exhibition matches against SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Plattsburgh on August 31, but a short 30 mile trip across Lake Champlain to Plattsburgh, New York, is not the same as a 1,400 mile jaunt from the Saint Michael's to the Saint Leo campus in Florida.
- Nora Schulze leads SMC in kills with 54, while Grace Almeida has 40 kills and an impressive .432 attack percentage.
- Alexandra Báez Rentas is the main setter for the team and she has 118 assists on the season.
- Báez Rentas also leads the team in digs with 59, followed closely by Kyla Farnan's 53 digs. Kaeleigh Cucura has five solo blocks and nine block assists to lead the team.
 
About Valdosta State
- The Blazers will be the second Gulf South Conference team faced by the Cavs this season. The other one was West Alabama. This is the first time the two teams have met, according to available records, though they might have crossed paths at least once from 1992-1999 as the Cavs played in some tournaments at Alabama-Huntsville that VSU might have played in.
-  VSU opened their season last week at home in their Fall Tournament. They went 2-2 for the weekend, which featured two opponents the Cavs will face later this season in Converse and Erskine. VSU fell to Converse 3-0 and defeated Erskine the next day 3-0.
- Jojo Smith led the Blazers with 36 kills and three aces as well as 40 digs and three blocks, including a double-double against Winston-Salem State. Audrey Bennett chipped in 125 assists in addition to 22 kills, 31 digs, five blocks and four aces.
- Christina Pettigrew had a great weekend defensively as she had 11 blocks (eight of them solo blocks) in addition to 31 kills and four aces. She was joined by Katie Callenberger, who had 29 kills, eight blocks and an ace.
 
About St. Edward's
- St. Edwards (Their preferred spelling instead of Saint) is the first team from Texas that the Cavs have faced since they played Texas-Brownsville in the NAIA National Tournament in 2007. They are not the westernmost team the Cavs have faced – that honor goes to California Baptist, followed by Lewis-Clark State (ID), both faced by the 2007 team in the tournament.
- The Hilltoppers opened the season last weekend as they hosted the Hilltopper Classic, where they won over Arkansas-Monticello, Newman, and Purdue Northwest before falling to Illinois-Springfield in the final match.
- Mia Clay led the way with 48 kills and three blocks. She was joined by Landry Baughman, who had 32 kills, 22 digs, five blocks, and two aces.
- Althea Morris had 40 digs and 146 assists to lead SEU, and Cora Young had nine blocks.
 
About Saint Leo
- The tournament hosts are making their home debut this season after opening the season in a tournament at Eckerd College. In that tournament they defeated Adelphi 3-2, fell to Wayne State 0-3, and bounced back to swat the Emory and Henry Wasps 3-2.
- This is the first time the two teams have met.
- Anyaliz Rodriguez and Oliwia Durka lead the Lions offensively with 39 and 37 kills, respectively. Durka has also chipped in nine blocks and four aces.
- Tajma Muharemovic has 92 assists to lead the team.
- Defensively, Ivet Flores leads the Lions with 61 digs, while Sheila Rodriguez has 10 blocks.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Cavs will open up SAC play at Limestone on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. and then travel to Wingate four days later. They will return home for the SAC opener against Coker on Sept. 27. First serve for that match is set for 6:00 p.m. on the Quillen Court in the David. J. Prior Convocation Center.