INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Virginia State University volleyball team swept crosstown rivals Charleston, 3-0, on Friday night at the Walker Convocation Center. The Yellow Jackets extended their win streak over the Golden Eagles to four games with the victory.
WVSU improves to 4-1 in the Mountain East Conference with the win while UC drops to 1-3 in league play with the loss.
Junior outside hitter Jenna Dufresne led the way with a match-high 14 kills. Fellow junior outside hitter Gabrielle Bullock was next-in-line with eight kills. Sophomore libero Jordan West picked up a team-high 11 digs, while freshman setter Peri Martin led all players with 25 assists.
A clear pattern developed in the first set of West Virginia State pulling ahead by four or five points before Charleston crawled back to within one or two points of breaking even. While the Golden Eagles came close to drawing even when they made their runs, the Yellow Jackets refused to relinquish their lead after going up 5-4 early on. Peri Martin set up Gabrielle Bullock for the set-winning kill, 25-21. Â
WVSU jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the second set. Grace Martin picked up the first point of the set with a perfectly-placed service ace. Jenna Dufresne ended the early run with one of her blazing-fast kills. UC came back to within two points later on, but was unable to come any closer. West Virginia State never looked troubled by Charleston's attack throughout the second set and won it fairly easily, 25-19.
The Yellow Jackets got off to a good start again in the third set and went up 7-3 to test the nerves of the Golden Eagles. Charleston was already unhinged at that point and did not have the mettle to contend with West Virginia State's relentless attack. WVSU took the third set by the largest margin, 25-14, to complete the sweep.
The Yellow Jackets minimized attack errors with just nine compared to 16 committed by the Golden Eagles.
West Virginia State will take a road trip to Concord on Tuesday, Feb. 23 next. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
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