WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 shutout of Millersville (Pa.) here Friday, highlighting the opening day of the Atlantic Region Crossover Tournament inside the ASRC.
    Coach Riley Schenk's Hilltoppers (8-5) made short work of the Marauders (4-8) in the second match of the day for both teams. West Liberty pulled away to a 25-19 win in the opening set and never took its foot off the gas, completing the sweep in little more than an hour by scores of 25-15 and 25-10.
    The Black and Gold settled for a split on the day, having dropped a tough 3-2 decision to Slippery Rock (Pa.) in their earlier match.
    In that opener, WLU rebounded from a 25-15 loss in the opening set to grab a 2-1 lead with back-to-back wins by scores of 25-23 and 25-21. The Hilltoppers appeared on the verge of wrapping things up with a 17-10 lead late in the fourth set but The Rock had other ideas.
    Slippery Rock came storming back to square the match with a 25-23 come-from-behind win and rode that momentum to a 15-11 victory in the fifth and deciding set.
    Mackenzie Daub had a team-high 12 kills for WLU while Maddie Clayton impressed with 11 kills, 6 blocks and a pair of service aces. Katelynn Fritz had 8 kills and 18 digs with Jenna Caskey also putting away 8 kills to go along with a dozen digs.
    Kirsten Bogunovich had a double-double with 29 assists and 11 digs while Nyia Setla topped the 'Toppers with 35 digs.
    In the second match, West Liberty turned in a dominating performance against Millersville, hitting 35 percent as a team – one of the top five marks in the MEC this fall. The Black and Gold racked up 44 kills, 9 service aces and 11 blocks to just 24 kills, 3 aces and 1 block for the Marauders.
    Clayton had a spectacular match, hitting 61.9 percent with 13 kills and no errors in 21 attacks to go along with 5 blocks. Nina Billotto and Daub each had 6 blocks while finishing with 9 and 7 kills, respectively. Fritz added 8 kills and Riley Cudnik added 7 put-aways.
    Bogunovich set a West Liberty season high with 39 assists while Setla led all players with 17 digs.
    The Atlantic Region Crossover concludes with four more matches on Saturday. West Liberty gets things started with a 10 a.m. match against Bloomsburg (Pa.) before closing out the event against Clarion (Pa.) at 4 p.m.