GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - Similarly to Friday, the Newberry College volleyball team split its pair of matches on Saturday. The team began the day with a loss to Northern Kentucky but accelerated past Converse to improve their record to 2-2 on the season.

Newberry got off to a strong start with a victory over the Northern Kentucky Norse in the opening set by a score of 25-21. The rest of the match; however, went the way of the Norse as they won the next two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-20. With their backs against the wall, Newberry continued to play hard but came up just short in the fourth and final set, losing 27-25.

Despite the loss, head coach David Nicholson saw strong play from many of his players. Seniors Lorena Maia (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) and Fernanda Frey (Sao Paulo, Brazil) as well as junior Kara Harris (Grandview, Texas) all reached double digit kills. Frey was the team leader with 13 kills. Additionally, Harris recorded 5 service aces while Maia recorded 2 blocks (1 solo, 1 assist).

Junior Brianna Blakely (Houston, Texas) also gave a strong individual effort. She led the team in digs with 16 and assists with 38. Kember Lichtie (Amarillo, Texas), Lindsey Hollingsworth (Charleston, S.C.), Frey and Harris all recorded double digit digs as well.

Northern Kentucky was led by junior Kim Nemcek and freshman Jenna Schreiver. Nemcek recorded 20 kills with the help of Schreiver, who had 46 assists.

In its second match of the day, Newberry regrouped and pulled out a 3-1 victory over the Converse Valkyries. Newberry again opened strong with a 25-14 opening set victory but was edged out in the second by a score of 26-24. This time Newberry's players didn't let the loss effect them and came back to win the third and fourth sets (25-19, 25-17) to close out the victory.

Senior Dani Hroblak (Lake Wylie, S.C.) came up big for Newberry with a team-leading 8 kills. Brianna Blakely amassed 31 more assists in the match, taking her weekend total over 100. Her tournament performance moved her into seventh place all-time in career assists at Newberry College.

Lindsey Hollingsworth contributed on both the offensive and defensive side for Newberry. She led the team in both service aces with 4 and digs with 16. Lorena Maia came up with 3 more blocks for the scarlet and grey.

Full statistics for all matches will be available Sunday evening.

Saturday's two-match split moved Newberry to 2-2 on the season. The team travels to Gaffney, S.C., for the Limestone Labor Day Tournament on September 4-5.