Athens, TN – Cumberlands advances to 6-3 after sweeping Tennessee Wesleyan 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-14) to start the week. This is the fourth sweep of the season for the Patriots.  

The Patriots were led by Anna Blumeier and Allyson Grava who notched 14 kills apiece, Shelby Lackey was also in the mix as she added nine kills. Juliet Banks had a season-high four aces while adding 21 digs, and Kendall Arnold had 30 assists. At the net, both Danielle Jackson and Grava had two blocks each.  

UC dominated the first set from the opening serve as Blumeier started the match with a kill.  After a couple of errors by both teams, the reigning MSC Attacker of the Week, Grava notched her first kill of the game. Lackey followed with two kills of her own two plays later. Then back-to-back kills by Blumeier and Jackson gave the Pats an 11-8 lead and forced a TWU timeout. Following the timeout, Cumberlands would go on a 14-4 run to take the first set. During the run, Grava tallied four kills, while both Jackson and Blumeier notched two kills each. Banks and Lexi Lester also added an ace each.

The second set started with a 6-0 Patriots run. Lackey opened with a kill, then Blumeier notched three kills in a row. Lackey and Blumeier would add one more kill each before the Bulldogs scored their first points of the set. A few plays later, Grava put in back-to-back kills to take an 11-5 lead. Following a timeout, Grava added another kill. After an error, Mary Schneidtmiller notched her first kill of the season to take a 14-6 lead. A couple plays later, Blumeier would go on another 3-0 run as she notched three more kills. Later in the set, Grava tallied back-to-back kills to take a 23-16 lead. A block by Lackey and Schneidtmiller gave UC set point and a TWU error ended the set.

The third set started with a lot of back-and-forth action with UC gaining a two-point lead after a Blumeier kill 7-5. A few plays later, the Patriots added to their lead after back-to-back kills from Grava and Blumeier to make it a 13-8 set score. Following a Bulldog timeout, Cumberlands gain the momentum by scoring four straight points. The points came from a block by Jackson and a kill by Lackey, then back-to-back aces from Banks gave UC a 17-8 lead. After two errors, Jackson notched a kill, Grava followed with two straight kills to take a 22-11 lead. Arnold got in on the attacking action with a kill of her own. Then a kill from Lackey gave the Pats set and match point, and a Kira Ervin kill put the game away.

Cumberlands will head back to Williamsburg for a weekend of home volleyball as they are set to host the first Cumberlands Invite this weekend. The matches will start at 9 am on both Friday September 2^nd and Saturday September 3^rd.

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