NEWBERRY – The Newberry College Wolves’ volleyball team got off to a sizzling start to the 2014 season, picking up a pair of wins in the Inaugural Newberry Invitational. The Wolves began the day by taking a 3-1 decision from Columbus State Friday morning and sweeping King 3-0 in the nightcap. Newberry will go into day two of the tournament 2-0 and face USC Aiken at 1 p.m. and Belmont Abbey at 5 p.m.

Newberry 3, Columbus State 1 (23-25, 25-23, 26-24,25-22)
The Newberry Wolves battled with the Cougars with four sets, but came out victorious in the end of Friday’s opener.

Senior Amanda Soper had a phenomenal performance in the match, leading the Wolves with 14 kills and hitting a blistering .355. Senior Jessica King hit a scorching .538 with seven errorless kills. Senior Lauren Prachar added seven kills of her own. Senior Elayni Stokes picked up 17 digs and freshman Bre Murphy added 11 of her own.

In the first set Newberry hit an astronomical .367 to Columbus State’s .263. However, the Cougars managed to squeak by and win the set. Soper, King and sophomores Madison Darby-McClure and Logan Hayward all hit .500 for the set.

The Wolves dominated the second set, hitting .206 and holding the Cougars to a .000 percentage. Newberry went from a 7-7 tie to jumping out to a 18-12 lead. The Cougars came clawing back to 24-23 before Soper put away the set point.

The third set turned out to be a dogfight. Five service aces and Soper's recording three kills in five attempts powered the Wolves to a 26-24 win.

The fourth set saw 14 ties and seven lead changes. Even though the Wolves hit .086, the defense forced Columbus State to hit .027. King led Newberry with two errorless kills in five attempts. Stokes picked up seven digs in the set.

Newberry 3, King 0 (25-11,25-18, 25-20)
The crowd in the nightcap was just too much for the Tornado to handle, as Soper and Hayward led the attack again for the Wolves in the day’s nightcap. Soper was on fire again, hitting .304 for the match with 11 kills. Hayward led all players with 14 kills and hit .281 overall. Prachar, Darby-McClure and King all added four kills apiece. Stokes racked up 24 digs in the match. Newberry hit .205 as a team compared to .019 for the Tornado.

The first set saw the Wolves start the game with 16 unanswered points. The Newberry student section was louder than the PA system completely turned up, making it completely impossible for King to concentrate. The Wolves put the set away 25-11 with the help of four kills from Hayward and three kills from King. Stokes added eight digs.

The second set saw Newberry jump out to an 11-3 lead and never looked back. They finished set 25-18 with Hayward leading the way with 5 kills and Stokes adding another eight digs.

The third set saw another dominating performance from the Wolves, jumping out to a 20-8 lead. The Wolves put away the set 25-20 after an attempted run from the Tornado came up just short. Hayward and Stokes were consistent again, Hayward totaling five kills and Stokes adding another eight digs. Soper picked up four kills of her own on 9 attempts and hit .333.

Coach Todd Hay believes that the Wolves really turned their game around from Friday morning to Friday night.

“Defensive intensity really picked up tonight, serve receive wasn’t very good this morning but was on point this evening. Ball control was key in tonight’s performance and I feel like we really made some good adjustments from this morning," Hay said. "These were two big wins to start the season and we have to keep playing good defense to continue our success in tomorrow’s matches.”