AIKEN – The Newberry Wolves improved their record to 5-1 after a pair of sweeps against Lees-McRae and Limestone on Friday afternoon.

The Wolves are back in action on Saturday in the USC Aiken Invitational against Francis Marion and USC Aiken at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.

Newberry 3, Lees-McRae 0 (25-17, 25-22 and 26-24)
Senior Amanda Soper was nothing short of fantastic in the Wolves first match of the day versus the Lees-McRae Bobcats. Soper hit a team high .400 for the match with seven kills in 15 attempts. She led Newberry to the sweep after the Wolves struggled offensively in their first match of the day.

In the first set the Wolves got off to a swift start, jumping out to a 17-5 start. Lees-McRae just could not hang on as Soper and fellow rightside Holly Brisson combined for four errorless kills. Newberry hit .222 in the set, but picked up two blocks and five service aces from senior Jessica King (2) and junior Rachel Moran (3). The Bobcats tried pulling a comeback, battling back to 24-17, but the Wolves would have none of that as sophomore Madison Darby-McClure put away a kill to close up the set.

The second set saw the Wolves jump out to a 4-0 lead, but that would be the largest lead of the set. Newberry and Lees-McRae would go almost point-for-point, but the Wolves were able to emerge victorious, winning 25-22. Senior Lauren Prachar hit .400 for the set with two errorless kills and six digs to lead the Wolves. Newberry out-hit the Bobcats .156 to .093 for the set.

The final set saw 11 ties and four lead changes in a defensive battle. The Wolves would see an early 8-4 lead slip away in the beginning and find a 24-24 tie at the end. However, the Wolves found a way to win as Prachar put down a kill to make the score 25-24. The defense then forced the Bobcats to make a costly error to end the set, and lock up the win for the Wolves. Soper picked up the offensive slack for the Wolves, pulling out four kills. Senior Elayni Stokes picked up seven digs in the set.

Newberry 3, Limestone 0 (25-22, 25-16 and 25-18)
In the second match of the day, Soper picked up right where she left off. She tallied nine kills in 18 attempts to hit .333 for the match, leading the Wolves to a dominating victory over the Limestone Saints. Newberry dictated Limestone in every offensive category, hitting percentage being the most notable as the Wolves outhit the Saints .258 to .079.

The first set saw 14 ties and seven lead changes, there were only 18 ties and eight lead changes in the entire match. The Wolves and Saints went point for point, the biggest lead of the set only being three points. King got off to a sizzling start, putting away three kills in her first four attempts. Sophomore Logan Hayward hit .300 in the set with four kills. Stokes was all over the floor, tallying nine digs for the set.  

Limestone just could not keep up with the Wolves in the second set, as Newberry hit an astronomical .321 as a team. Prachar had three errorless kills in nine attempts to go along with four digs. Prachar, Hayward and Soper hit a combined .381. The Saints hung around for a 9-9 tie, but the Wolves took off from there, scoring the final 16 points, while surrendering just seven to Limestone in the set.

The Wolves kept the heat on the Saints in third set, jumping out to a 20-12 lead. The Saints would try to make things interesting, clawing back to 24-18, but Brisson hammered the nail in the coffin for the Wolves as she recorded the match point. Newberry would hit .226 in the set and smothered the Saints to hit .000. Brisson would smash four kills and Prachar picked up seven digs to lead the Wolves.

Coach Todd Hay was pleased with the defense in today’s games. “I think the defense is what really stood out to me the most,” Hay said. “Our serve receive continues to get better and better each match. But when you put up 102 digs and 14 total blocks in two matches, that’s giving yourself a chance to win. Our outside and rightside attackers also did a fantastic job of ‘managing’ the game.”

Hay said that “manage” has been a word that he has really been stressing to the outsides and rightsides the past couple weeks. “If the opportunity to score is not there, we did a great job of being smart and use our attacks to get the other team out of system,” said Hay. “Even though they may not score on every point, they did a good job of setting up our offense for getting an easier return attack.”

The Wolves have two big games tomorrow against region foes Francis Marion and USC Aiken. Coach Hay went on to say that, “Tomorrow is a big day to pick up two region wins in facing Francis Marion and USC Aiken. Francis Marion has a good program and we went five sets with USC Aiken last weekend, so it is going to be a tough day, but we are looking forward to matching up with them.”