ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - It was a tale of two teams for the Newberry volleyball team as they swept Southern Wesleyan 3-0 after dropping their opening match of the Flagler Invitational to the host school, also by a score of 3-0.

The Wolves got out to a fast start in their second contest of the day, jumping out to a 5-1 lead and never trailing en route to a 25-15 opening set victory. The Wolves continued their momentum into the second set, building an 11-3 lead before cruising to a 25-14 second set victory. The third set was a little more back and forth as Southern Wesleyan got out to an 8-7 lead, but the Wolves clawed their way back into the lead at 15-14 and never relinquished it on the way to a sweep-completing 25-21 victory. The third set comeback provided an exciting close to the Wolves' first victory of the season.

Standouts in the second match of the day included Toni-Anne Whitlow, who led a balanced offensive attack with nine kills. Freshman Becca Hallingstad was excellent with eight kills of her own. Freshman setter Avery Webb was excellent in both the passing game and from the service line, recording 28 assists and four service aces. On the defensive side, senior transfer Kylee Kanealey made a huge impact with four blocks, and freshman Kaitlyn Odom led a balanced team effort with eight digs. Hallingstad and fellow freshman Morgan Walter chipped in with six digs each.

The first match of the day saw the Wolves get off to a tough start, as Flagler used a dominant finish to the second set to pull away from the Wolves. After Newberry took a 10-6 lead to open the set, Flagler went on a 6-0 run to seize control of the set, never trailing after that point and coasting to a 25-21 second set victory.

The Wolves started out the match on a rough note, losing the first three points of the match and recording several service errors. Flagler took that 3-0 lead and never looked back, coasting to a 25-17 opening set victory.

After the aforementioned second set victory, Newberry fought hard at the beginning of the third set and trailed just 9-7. From that point on, however, the Wolves ran out of gas as Flagler went on a 16-3 run to close the set and the match with a 25-10 third set victory.

Standouts in the first match included Zoe Dinkins and Toni-Anne Whitlow, who each recorded six kills. Dinkins added in a service ace. Freshman Avery Webb was a strong contributor in her first collegiate match with 24 assists and seven digs, and fellow freshman Morgan Walter recorded double digit digs with 11.

The Wolves will look to continue their momentum from Saturday's second match as they will take on Rollins and Shorter tomorrow.