West Virginia Sweeps Harvard

Friday, September 8

Dayton, Ohio

6:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

6-2

Harvard

1-4

Team	1	2	3	Final F
West Virginia	25	25	25	3
Harvard	13	21	16	0

Photo by: Steven Prunty

September 08, 2017 07:36 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

By: Ashley Bailey

FAIRBORN, Ohio – For its second straight sweep of the day, the West Virginia University volleyball downed Harvard, 3-0, in its second match at the Holiday Inn Invitational on Friday evening at Wright State's McLin Gym in Fairborn, Ohio. WVU took the win, which moved them to 6-2 on the season, in set scores of 25-13, 25-21 and 25-16.

Sophomore right side Natania Levak had a team-best 11 kills in the match, hitting .526. Senior middle blocker Mia Swanegan hit .412 with eight kills, while sophomore outside hitter Payton Caffrey had seven kills and an impressive six service aces in the win. Sophomore hitter Katelyn Evans had six kills, while freshman middle Katie DeMeo had five kills, hitting .364.

Sophomore setter Erin Slinde, who had four kills and hit .800, had 34 assists across three sets. She added four more service aces as West Virginia tallied 12 in the match.

Caffrey led the floor defense with 10 digs, while DeMeo led the blocking effort with five stops. Levak, Evans and Caffrey each added a pair as well. Freshman libero Alexa Hasting registered nine digs, while freshmen defensive specialists Ava Richards and Lindsay Proctor had seven and six, respectively.

The Mountaineers finishd the match hitting .304 with 41 kills and nine team blocks. Grace Roberts Burbank and Christina Cornelius led the Crimson with seven kills each as Harvard hit .119 with 24 kills and five blocks.

"I like the momentum we have heading into tomorrow," coach Reed Sunahara said. "However, we need to be careful not to get caught up in things. It's important to take things one match at a time to prepare for Big 12 season."

The Mountaineers struggled offensively in the first set, hitting just .194, but came away with the 25-13 win. After starting the set in a 3-0 hole, Slinde recorded three aces off 10 straight serves as the Mountaineers took eight straight for a 9-4 lead. Evans and Levak added kills, while Caffrey served consecutive aces to make it 20-11 in favor of the Mountaineers. WVU rattled off four in a row to take the set, winning on a kill from Levak for a 1-0 lead.

West Virginia put down 17 kills, hitting .306 for a 25-21 win in set two behind five kills from Swanegan. The Crimson capitalized on several Mountaineer miscues for an 8-3 lead. However, Levak put down a trio of kills to tie the set for WVU at 8-8. Swanegan added consecutive kills to push West Virginia ahead, 14-11. DeMeo teamed with Evans, then Levak, before adding a kill to give the Mountaineers a 21-17 advantage. A Harvard error put WVU at set point before Swanegan ended the frame for a 2-0 Mountaineer lead.

With just two errors in the third set, WVU hit .440 with 13 kills for a 25-16 victory. Swanegan started things off with a kill and her teammates followed suit, scoring five in a row before a Crimson kill snapped the streak. However, the momentum stuck with the Mountaineers, as Caffrey served up three straight aces before a DeMeo kill gave West Virginia an 11-3 advantage. She added another later in the set, as Levak put a pair through the pins for a 21-12 lead. Swanegan posted a block, then teamed with Evans for another to bring up match point with a 24-13 lead. Harvard kept the set alive, but Evans found the court for the win.

The Mountaineers cap play at the Holiday Inn Invitational on Saturday in a 3 p.m. tilt with host Wright State.