FAIRMONT, W.V. – Paced by a mix of upperclassmen and sophomores, the Anderson University volleyball team opened the 2023 campaign by sweeping Elizabeth City State, 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-15) then rallied from a two-set deficit to knock off host Fairmont State, 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-18, 15-8), Friday afternoon at Joe Retton Arena.

"It's always good to pick up two wins on the road against some teams that saw action in the NCAA Tournament," said Anderson head coach Todd Hay. "I felt like our service pressure was the difference in our opening match against ECSU. However, in our second match against Fairmont, we were a bit sluggish early on and allowed them to dictate the pace of the match. We were generating a lot of kills but almost as many team errors. Once we reached the latter part of set three, our errors really dropped off and our servers did a good job giving us easy defensive reads. It would have been better to play like that from the beginning but we'll take better late than never. I don't recall us ever producing 80 kills. Really proud of how we hung in and turned it around."

Anderson improved to 2-0, while blanking Elizabeth City State in the Vikings' season-opener and handing Fairmont State (1-1) its first loss of the season after the Falcons swept Ursuline earlier Friday afternoon.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
vs. Elizabeth City State
Senior Sadie Kluner, who knocked down six kills and hit .625 in first set, led the Trojans in the opener with 11 kills and added a pair of digs, while finishing with a .444 attacking percentage. Fellow senior Jaelyn Grimm notched nine kills in just 11 attempts for an astounding .818 hitting percentage. The Cedar Park, Texas, native also posted a pair of block assists. Senior right-side hitter Rylie Sargent also recorded nine kills against the Vikings and chipped in three block assists and two digs.

Senior outside hitter Tabitha Wheeler added six kills, a pair of aces, three digs and a pair of blocks, with senior setter Jenna Long dishing out a match-high 29 assists. She completed the double-double by coming up with 10 digs, while tallying four kills. Lindsay McCurley posted nine digs and three service aces, while sophomore Katy Smith added eight digs, four assists and two aces.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
vs. Fairmont State
Wheeler led all players with 17 kills behind a .326 hitting percentage and notched her first double-double of the season by adding 15 digs. She also tallied four assists and a block assist. Kluner finished the nightcap with 14 kills and four digs, while sophomore outside hitter Kaitlyn Barrett knocked down a career-high 11 kills.

Grimm posted 10 kills on a .450 attacking percentage and chipped in a pair of block assists, with Sargent also notching 10 kills behind a .333 hitting percentage. The Greer native also recorded six digs. Sophomore Brantley Chipley tallied seven kills, while junior Hannah Neff recorded six kills on a .455 hitting accuracy and added 14 digs.

Long handed out a career-high 61 assists and claimed a double-double with 12 digs, while Smith came up with a career-best 24 digs. Savannah Cox notched four service aces and seven digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED
vs. Elizabeth City State
First Set
After four early ties, the Trojans took the lead for good on the first of two service aces from sophomore Katy Smith that gave AU a 5-4 lead and behind Smith and senior Tabitha Wheeler's strong serving efforts – alongside senior Sadie Kluner's .800 attacking percentage - the Black and Gold used an 11-4 surge to build a seven-point advantage and never looked back.

AU steadily eased out to a double-digit cushion, at 21-11, on a setting error by Elizabeth City before the Vikings closed within seven behind three consecutive scores. The Trojans then closed out the set on a 4-1 run, while notching a .286 hitting percentage during the frame.

Second Set
Wheeler knocked down six kills in just seven attempts (.857) to lead the Trojans to a .367 team hitting percentage in the second frame, with the Greenville native's first kill of the afternoon giving AU a lead they would not surrender – at 6-5.

AU maintained a narrow advantage until Sargent and Grimm teamed up to fuel a quick 4-0 surge that included an ace from Smith and boosted the lead to 18-11, with the Trojans going on to finish with the six-point win.

Third Set
After falling behind early, the Trojans overcame a slow start and used a 14-3 scoring outburst - which included eight straight points during one stretch - to turn an 8-4 deficit into an 18-11 lead. Sargent posted a kill to snap an 11-11 deadlock and McCurley sparked a quick 5-0 surge that included three aces and boosted the lead to 18-11, with AU pushing on out to the double-digit victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
vs. Fairmont State
First Set
Early errors plagued AU in the opening set, with the Trojans finishing the frame with five attack errors while the Falcons recorded four service aces.

After the Trojans jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead, FSU countered by scoring eight unanswered points to force a Trojan time out. Coming out of the break, Long snapped the Falcon run with a kill but the Falcons built a 12-6 lead on the strength of the four early aces and a pair of service errors by the Trojans.

Wheeler answered for AU with back-to-back kills and the Trojans got within three on a kill by Grimm, then following a score by Fairmont State, Kluner posted three straight kills to cap an 8-2 run and pulled AU within 13-12, but the Falcons countered with three straight points and the Trojans were unable to catch up.

Second Set
The second frame featured 10 ties, but the Trojans fell behind early and never led until late in the set. After falling behind 17-12, Grimm led a rally that saw AU knot the score at 17 apiece and eventually grab a brief, 22-20, advantage on a kill by Kluner. But the Trojans were unable to hold off Fairmont State down the stretch.

Third Set
The Falcons scored the first four points of the third set, but AU kept it close – with the largest lead by either team marked by the Falcons' early 4-0 advantage.

FSU snapped the fourth deadlock of the set (13-13) with two consecutive points, but were unable to gain any more distance, with the Trojans breaking a 20-20 tie on a kill by Emily Campbell and pushing to set point on an ace by Grimm, a kill by Barrett and an error by the Falcons before taking the win on Barrett's fourth kill of the set.

Fourth Set
AU raced out to a double-digit,14-4, cushion and never looked back, with the Trojans taking the win behind Barrett's six kills and a .325 team attack accuracy to set up a fifth and deciding set.

Fifth Set
The Trojans took advantage of an error by FSU to snap an early 4-4 deadlock and steadily built a late eight-point cushion in a somewhat anticlimactic final set after the frantic third and fourth frames set the stage for the win.

ANDERSON STATS OF THE DAY
Kluner averaged a team-high 4.17 kills per set, while Grimm recorded a .581 hitting percentage. Long averaged 11.25 assists per set, with Cox and Smith leading the squad with four aces apiece.

NOTABLES
• The Trojans opened the season on the road for the 11th time in 12 seasons.
• AU was squaring off against Elizabeth City and Fairmont State for the first time in program history.
• Elizabeth City State is the defending Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Tournament Champion.
• Jenna Long posted a pair of double-doubles on the day.
• Long finished the nightcap with a career-high 61 assists.
• Tabitha Wheeler posted a double-double against Fairmont State.
• Katy Smith notched a career-high 24 digs against Fairmont State.
• Kaitlyn Barrett recorded a career-high 11 kills against the Falcons.
• With the win over Elizabeth City, AU won its' third straight season opener.

UP NEXT
Anderson will wrap up the tournament by facing Ursuline and Slippery Rock on Saturday.