Williamsburg, KY – The Patriots improve to 11-0 after taking a pair of wins over Bluefield, 3-0, and William Carey, 3-2, on Friday afternoon at the Cumberlands Invite. UC tallied 105 kills, 126 digs, 21 aces, and ten block across the two matches.
 
Cumberlands Capitalizes on Attacking Power to Top Bluefield, 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-18)
Aleksandra Augustyniak tallied three team-highs: 13 digs, four aces, and two blocks. Outside hitter, Sara Zampedri led the Pats with 13 kills, while Allyson Grava followed with 12.

In the first set, the Patriots exchanged points with the Rams, until breaking away with a pair of service aces from Ryann Livingston and a Bluefield error, 12-9. To remain in the lead, 15-12, UC's defense held down the court while Aleksandra Augustyniak tallied a kill. The Rams attempted to shorten the gap, but Cumberlands stayed up 20-17 courtesy of kills from Faith Franklin and Savanah Jolly. After Bluefield evened the score at 21-21, a powerful kill by Grava and a critical block from Augustyniak and Franklin shifted the Pats into a 23-22 advantage. Bluefield took a pair of points to tie the set at 24-24, but a kill by Augustyniak and an incredible rally ending in a Franklin kill sealed the first set in a Patriot win at 26-24.

Cumberlands opened the second set with a 2-1 lead from back-to-back kills from Franklin and Zampedri. The Rams tied the score at 5-5, but a pair of kills hit by Kara Gipson pulled the Pats ahead, 9-7. The two teams swapped points in the middle of the set, until a four-point run, seeing two aces served by Augustyniak and two kills by Zampedri, put UC up 15-11. Strengthening their lead to 22-18, Zampedri recorded a kill and an ace, while Gipson, Augustyniak, and Grava also tallied kills. Grava put the final point on the board with a kill, 25-21.

The third set began with a 5-3 lead in favor of the Patriots, seeing kills from Gipson, Zampedri, and Franklin. The Rams stole a 7-6 lead that Cumberlands retaliated for with seven consecutive points, 13-9. On that run, Grava, Augustyniak, and Zampedri marked kills followed by a Grava service ace and two Bluefield errors. From that point, the Pats held a steady lead from three consecutive kills by Grava and one from Gipson, 21-15. The hitting pair, Grava and Gipson, tallied the last two kills of the match, 25-18, to complete the sweep of the Rams.
 
 
Cumberlands Pushes Past Crusaders, 3-2 (11-25, 25-17, 25-19, 23-25, 15-13)
Outside hitter, Aleksandra Augustyniak paved the way with 14 kills and four aces. Juliet Banks also collected four aces, along with 15 digs, while Savanah Jolly tallied 31 assists and four kills.

After falling to Williiam Carey in the first set, UC took a 4-3 lead with back-to-back blocks from Kara Gipson and Augustyniak in the second. The Crusaders tied the score at 7-7, but  Banks put the Pats in an 8-7 lead with a service ace. Three William Carey attacking errors and a Sara Zampedri kill paired with an ace served by Augustyniak put UC on a five-point run to lead 13-8.  Augustyniak and Allyson Grava both tallied a kill to lead the Crusaders, 20-12. With a pair of kills, Zampedri extended UC's advantage to 23-16. To seal the score at 25-17, Augustyniak marked an ace and Zampedri recorded a clutch kill.

UC looked to bounce back for a win in the third set. Kills from Savanah Jolly, Gipson, and Zampedri put the Pats in a tie with the Crusaders at 4-4. Consecutive kills from Rayne Manning and Aleksandra Augustyniak later evened the score at 9-9. For six points in a row, Grava recorded four kills and the Crusaders made two attacking errors to give the Pats a 16-11 lead. Two attacking errors on William Carey lengthened UC's lead to 18-12. A Zampedri kill in addition to an ace served by Banks put the Patriots up 23-15. Faith Franklin ended the set at 25-19 with two consecutive kills.

The fifth and final set saw Cumberlands take a 7-4 lead off of two Grava kills, one from Zampedri, an Augustyniak ace and two errors on William Carey.  A three-point rally, comprised of kills by Grava and Gipson along with a Ryann Livingston service ace, sent the Pats into an 11-6 lead. Zampedri ended the match with a kill for a 15-13 win over the Crusaders.

UC Volleyball will play University of Northwestern Ohio and Union on Saturday August 31^st at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. in Williamsburg, KY.

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