Mountaineers Sweep UT-Martin

Saturday, August 26

Morgantown, W.Va.

12:30 p.m.

West Virginia University

2-0

UT-Martin

0-2

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UT-Martin	19	20	11	0
West Virginia	25	25	25	3

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

August 26, 2017 02:38 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

By: Ashley Bailey

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (Aug. 26, 2017) – Six newcomers, including five freshmen, saw the court as the West Virginia University volleyball team swept UT-Martin, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown. WVU claimed the win in set scores of 25-19, 25-20 and 25-11.

The Mountaineers move to 2-0 on the season and in the WVU Invitational. They face No. 6 Penn State (2-0) at 7 p.m. in the final match of the tournament Saturday evening.

Middle blocker Katie DeMeo, outside hitter Briana Lynch and defensive specialists Lindsay Proctor and Ava Richards were among the freshmen to see action, while classmate Alexa Hasting took over at libero. Senior setter Emma Anderson, a transfer, also saw the court in the win.

Sophomore outside hitter Payton Caffrey hit .412 with a team-best 10 kills in the match. Senior middle blocker Mia Swanegan hit .353 with nine kills and joined Natania Levak in leading the blocking effort with five each. Levak also hit .429 and was good for six kills as DeMeo added five.

Caffrey and DeMeo each added a pair of blocks, while Hasting led the floor defense with 10 digs. Caffrey just missed a double-double, posting nine digs. Sophomore setter Erin Slinde had 27 assists and added eight digs as well.

Caffrey, Slinde, Cross and Proctor each recorded a service ace for WVU. The Mountaineers hit .198 with 32 kills and nine team blocks.

"I thought the first two sets we were sluggish," coach Reed Sunahara said. "In the third set, we came around and played much better. We had opportunities, but we shot ourselves in the foot a few times. Luckily, we came out on top, but I thought we could have played a lot better."

Macy Reigelsperger and Jemima Idemudia led UT-Martin with seven kills each. The Skyhawks hit -.039 with six blocks and an ace.

With as many as three freshmen on the court at one time in the first set, the Mountaineers hit. 276 on their way to a 25-19 victory. Swanegan and Caffrey led the way with four kills each, followed by DeMeo's three. A kill from DeMeo started a 4-0 run for WVU, who took a 4-1 lead over UTM and never looked back. A pair of Swanegan kills made it 16-12 before a Caffrey kill and a DeMeo ace put WVU on top, 22-16. Levak found the court to set up set point before a Proctor ace capped things off, putting WVU up 1-0.

Despite four kills from Caffrey, the Mountaineers struggled in the second set before claiming a 25-20 win. Four straight errors put WVU on top 6-2, while consecutive Skyhawk errors and a Taylor Cross ace made it a six-point lead at 10-4. However, UT-Martin put together a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to just one with WVU leading, 10-9. Caffrey and DeMeo go the Mountaineers back on track, but the Skyhawks scored seven straight to even the score at 18-18. DeMeo threw down a kill to put WVU back on top, and the Mountaineers took advantage of three straight UTM miscues for a four-point advantage at 22-18. A Skyhawk error put WVU at set point before Anderson and Swanegan paired for a block to finish things off and give the Mountaineers a 2-0 lead in the match.

West Virginia got into a rhythm early in the third, scoring eight of nine for a 10-3 lead. The Mountaineers kept rolling and used a Slinde ace and a kill by Levak for a 5-0 run that withstood a UTM timeout. The squad then used a Caffrey/Swanegan block, along with three UTM errors, to claim the 25-11 in for the 3-0 sweep.