Women's Volleyball | 9/7/2019 6:53:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2     ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The West Liberty University volleyball team split its final two matches at the Eckerd Volleyball Classic here Saturday at the McArthur Center.
    Coach Kayla Mull's Hilltoppers (1-3) breezed to a 3-1 win against Malone (Ohio) in their morning match before dropping a 3-0 decision to the host Tritons on Saturday afternoon.
    The Black and Gold took command early against Malone, sweeping the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-14 for a 2-0 lead. The Pioneers avoided the shutout with a 25-13 nod in the third set but WLU regained control in the fourth set and cruised to a 25-18 victory.
    Caitlin Clarke led all players with a dozen kills for WLU while Mackenzie Sims had another strong match with 11 kills and 14 digs. Madison Clayton and Olivia Baumhoer added 10 kills apiece with Kailee Cunningham posting a match-high 27 digs.
    Renee Lemke had a double-double with 15 assists and 11 digs while Kendall Souder led the Hilltoppers with 23 assists.
    West Liberty jumped out to an early 9-3 lead in the opening set against Eckerd only to see the Tritons battle back to pull out a 26-24 win. Eckerd came from behind for a 25-19 decision in the second set and never trailed in closing out the win with a 25-14 victory in the third set.
    Sims and Baumhoer led the Hilltoppers at the net with 10 and 8 kills, respectively. Souder and Lemke were each charted with 14 assists while Cunningham hit double-figures in digs again with a dozen.
    West Liberty returns to action on Friday when they open play in the Vulcan Invitational, hosted by California (Pa.) University.