FLORENCE, S.C. - After a rocky first set, the Newberry volleyball team seized momentum winning three straight sets en route to defeating Erskine, 3-1 (10-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-22), in its season opener at the Francis Marion Invitational on Friday afternoon.

"It was not a pretty first set," Newberry coach David Nicholson said. "But I was confident my team would improve their play and, fortunately, they did."

A crew of underclassmen, Samantha Parrish (Angola, Ind.), Lauren Prachar (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Chelsea Mayor (Sugar Land, Texas) led the charge for the Wolves (1-0) after the 25-10 loss in set one. Parrish's aggressive play gave Erskine problems all match as she finished with 13 kills and 11 digs. Prachar finished with 10 kills and eight digs and had a five-kill set with zero errors. Mayor added a double-double of her own with a 14-assist, 10-dig performance.

Despite zero aces in the second set, Parrish's powerful serve handcuffed the Flying Fleet for several points allowing the Wolves to jump out to a 12-3 lead. The squad cruised for most of the set before allowing Erskine to crawl back after a Jamie Murray kill got the Fleet within three at 23-20. An Erskine service error and an attack error by Murray knotted the match at a set each.

Set three went back and forth and nearly slipped through the grasp of the Wolves, but Parrish's serve gave Erskine fits once again. With Newberry down to set point 24-23, the sophomore rattled off a service ace which tied the game at 24. After that, Prachar came up huge with two consecutive kills capping off a 4-0 run to stun the Flying Fleet in set three.

"The third set gave us all kinds of momentum," Nicholson said. "After we scored four straight points to take the set, I knew things were looking up for us."

The final set of the match was tight the whole way, but Newberry lost the lead just once when a Parrish attack error gave Erskine a 10-9 lead. A Flying Fleet service error tied the set at 10 and the wolves never lost the lead again. Prachar finished her excellent performance with a thunderous kill to put the Wolves in the win column.

"I'm proud with the way we battled today," Nicholson said. "After a tough first set, it was good to see our kids keeping their heads up and working together to correct the mistakes we made early."

Blair Browning (New Lexington, Ohio) finished with a team-high 18 assists while Lindsey Hollingsworth (Charleston, S.C.) added 14 digs.