West Palm Beach, FL – UC Volleyball (4-0) walks away from the Viper Sports Academy Classic undefeated, following their success over Southeastern (2-1), 3-1, and Webber, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon. Throughout both games, UC totaled 107 kills, 101 assists, 14 blocks, and 12 aces.

Patriots Extinguish the Fire, 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 25-22)
Graduate student Allyson Grava paved the way with 17 kills and 12 digs, while Kara Gipson recorded 13 kills and Faith Franklin hit 11. Savanah Jolly notched 25 assists and Kendall Arnold followed with 21. Defensively, Juliet Banks tallied 14 digs and Davey Slaughter had 11.

UC found themselves at a 6-2 deficit in the first set but powered through with a trio of kills from Grava, a service ace by Aleksandra Augustyniak and a couple Southeastern errors to tie the score at 8-8. The Patriots took advantage of the momentum and entered a 12-9 lead on a kill by Augustyniak followed by an ace hit by Arnold and a kill from Kara Gipson. After the Fire evened the court at 16-16, kills from Rayne Manning, Gipson, and Augustyniak propelled Cumberlands into a 23-19 lead. Grava sealed the score at 25-22 with a kill set up by Banks.

To kick off the second set, Gipson opened with two kills in addition to a service ace by Banks, for a tied score of 3-3. The Patriots secured four points from a duo of kills by Franklin, while Gipson and Jolly marked one kill apiece, but closely trailed Southeastern, 9-8. Three attack errors from the Fire and two kills by Sara Zampedri with one from Gipson helped UC even the score at 16-16. After exchanging points, six Patriot kills, and two attacking errors finalized Cumberlands' win at 25-23.

UC bounced back in the fourth set, taking a 2-1 lead with two consecutive kills from Grava. The Patriots were down 11-5 when kills from Jolly, Franklin, Grava and Augustyniak trimmed the deficit to 14-10. A couple of plays later, Augustyniak, Allison Moneypenny, and Gipson brought the attacking power to shift the Pats into a 19-18 lead. It was head-to-head moving into the final points, and another kill from Moneypenny in addition to two Southeastern errors and a kill by Franklin completed the 25-22 victory over the Fire.

Patriots Blank Webber, 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-21)
Allyson Grava tallied an attacking percentage of .500 with 13 kills, while Aleksandra Augustyniak tagged along with 12 kills and a .429 attacking percentage. The libero, Juliet Banks notched 21 digs to lead the Pats on defense, while Kendall Arnold recorded 21 assists.

Cumberlands opened the first set with a 12-1 run. During that run, UC saw three kills from both Augustyniak and Grava, and a pair of aces by Arnold and Sara Zampedri. After exchanging points, the Pats were up 20-11 over Webber, with seven kills. UC's defense and a final kill by Kara Gipson completed the 25-14 win.

Set two was harder fought, as the Patriots were down 6-3, but two kills by Zampedri and a Ryann Livingston ace quickly tied the set at 7-7. UC scored five-straight, on two kills from Grava, another service ace by Livingston, and two Warrior errors, to shift into a 18-14 lead. Augustyniak and Grava notched a kill apiece and the Pats capitalized on two more errors from Webber to finish the set at 25-21.

UC jumped into a 4-1 advantage, seeing kills from Grava and Faith Franklin along with an attacking error on Webber, in the third set. The Patriots stayed ahead of the Warriors with 12 more attacks to close out the final score of 25-21.

Cumberlands Volleyball will travel to Milligan, TN to attend the Milligan Mountain Tournament, where they will face Shawnee State at 5 p.m. and Union at 7:30 p.m. on Friday August 23^rd.

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