Williamsburg, KY – The UC volleyball team debuted its new court with a 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-21) win over Asbury in their home opener Wednesday night at the UC Volleyball Gym.  With the win the Patriots improve to 2-3 overall, while the Eagles fall to 2-4.

UC start the match out strong jumping out to a 4-1 lead in the first set behind a pair of Lily Chapman kills.  The two teams traded points until Asbury tallied four straight to tie the game at 7-7.  The score was tied six times, with the final time coming at 21-21, before Asbury notched four of the next five points to win the set 25-22 and take a 2-1 lead.

The second set started out in similar fashion with the Patriots grabbing the early lead.  Asbury responded by scoring eight of the next ten points to take a 10-6 lead.  Both teams continued to battle before UC's rattled off four unanswered points to take a 13-12 advantage.  The contested continued to be closely contested as the score was tied seven times to make it 20-20.  Cumberlands took control from that point notching five straight points, including a pair of kills from Mackenzie Koch, to win the set 25-20 and even the match at 1-1.

Ashley Sobocinski tallied three kills to start the third set a put UC ahead 6-2.  Asbury responded with a run of their own to cut the lead to one at 8-7.  The Patriots pushed their lead to four points on three separate occasions, however the Eagles used a 5-0 run to take a 20-19 lead.  From that point Asbury took a 24-23 lead, before UC capitalized on an Eagles service error and attack error to win the set 26-24 and take a 2-1 advantage.

Cumberlands carried the momentum into the fourth set jumping out to a 10-2 lead behind a pair of service aces from Tara Routliffe and a pair of kills from Megan Jackson. Chapman tallied a pair of service aces to spark another 4-0 run the Patriots extending their lead 16-7.  The two teams traded points, until Asbury scored seven unanswered points to cut the lead to 21-19.  After the Eagles made it a one point game at 22-21, the Patriots tallied the final three points of the match for the 3-1 final.

Leading the way for the Patriots was Lynsey Short, who tallied 45 assists and eight digs.  Chapman added a team-high 16 kills, while Sobocinski and Jackson finished with 13 and 11, respectfully.  Routliffe led the defense with 22 digs, while Koch and Leah Crist combined for seven blocks.

The Patriots will return to action Friday, August 31, when they travel to Milligan, TN to take part in the Milligan Mountain Madness Tournament.  UC will get a rematch with Asbury at 2 p.m., before taking on Bryan College at 6 p.m. Live stats for the tournament will be available here.

For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics, please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter - @UC_Patriots, Instagram - @UCPatriots, SnapChat - @UC_Patriots, YouTube – Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.