FLORENCE - The Newberry College volleyball team opened the 2012 season with a 25-17, 25-14, 25-12 sweep of Mount Olive in the opening contest of the 2012 Francis Marion Invitational. The Wolves recorded 16 service aces in the three-set match to give head coach Todd Hay his first win as a collegiate head coach.

Newberry (1-0) will face off against the host team, Francis Marion, at 4 p.m. today.

Preseason second team all-SAC member Lauren Prachar (Fort Wayne, Ind.) had a team-high six service aces with nine kills, while all-SAC first teamer Samantha Parrish (Angola, Ind.) had team highs with 10 kills and six digs to go with four aces.

Libero Elayni Stokes (Houston, Texas) tied for the team lead with six digs and had three aces. Setters Rachel Moran (Cypress, Texas) and Blair Browning (New Lexington, Ohio) led the offense well with Moran dishing out 15 assists and Browning handing out 10. The Wolves hit .221 overall with even higher percentages in the first two sets.

The aces came early and often in the first set, with one by Moran and three straight from Prachar helping the Wolves ease out to a 9-3 lead. Later, two consecutive Parrish aces put Newberry at a 17-8 advantage as the Wolves cruised to a 25-17 first set win. Newberry hit .211 in the first set, with two kills apiece from Parrish and Amanda Soper (Simi Valley, Calif.) and seven aces.

Newberry hit at a .417 clip on the way to a 25-14 set win with Parrish notching five kills and two aces in the set and Prachar throwing down four kills. The third set was slightly rockier with more hitting errors leading to only a .040 percentage, but Prachar had five kills and two aces and Stokes notched all three of her aces in the set.