St. Augustine, Fla: The Newberry College volleyball team (1-1, 0-0 SAC) opened their 2022 season campaign with two games at the Flagler Invitational. The Wolves faced a tough loss to start their year against Flagler University Saints but bounced back to win a tight battle against UNC-Pembroke Braves. 
 
The game started back and forth between the two teams, leading to a 6-4 lead by Wolves from a service error by the Saints and a service ace from Taylor Hall (McDonough, Ga.). The Saints scored four straight points to take 8-6 lead and begin trading points again with the Wolves. The Saints ended on a 11-1 run to take the first set, 25-14. 
 
The Wolves jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second set, led by a kill from Hall and two errors from the Saints. Both teams traded serves back and forth, with the Saints taking momentum late in the match to tie at 20. The Wolves tried to match points from the Saints by kills from Hall and Samantha Shaffer (Belle Isle, Fla.), but wasn't enough and the Saints took the second set, 25-22.
 
Flagler started hot in the third set, taking the first four points, which was then broken up by errors from the Saints. The Saints stayed hot throughout the set, leading to multiple runs, which the Wolves tried multiple times to break up. In the end, the Saints prevailed and took the third set, 25-14.
 
Both Olivia Diggs (Titusville, Fla.) and Baylor Herlehy (Auburn, Calif.) led the team in kills with six and Annie Dill (Jacksonville, Fla.) led the team with ten assists.
 
In the second game, the teams traded points back and forth, but kills by Shaffer and Kate Brown (Platte City, Mo.) jumped the Wolves out to a 7-3 lead early. The Braves stormed back to tie the set at 14, but multiple errors started momentum for the Wolves as they had a 10-4 run to push their lead in the set, 24-18. The Braves had a late surge, but Wolves finished the last point and took the first set 25-22.
 
The second set saw many lead changes early, with each teams have mini runs of momentum. Tied at 17, Herlehy had back-to-back kills to give the Wolves a 19-17 lead. The Braves took of advantage of two Wolves errors to tie the set at 19, as the teams continued to go back and forth. Kills by both Diggs and Hall led to a timeout by the Braves to try and break up the momentum, but were unsuccessful, as a kill by Shaffer secured the second set, 25-21.
 
Both teams carried the tight place throughout the entirety of the third set. Tied at 15, two back-to-back kills by Herlehy once again gave them a two-point lead, which they kept until the Braves back to tie at 24. The team traded back and forth until Shaffer sealed and the set and game with a kill to take set three. 
 
Herlehy led the team with 12 kills and Dill led 21 assists. 
 
The Wolves will finish out the Flagler Invitational tomorrow, August 26, with games against the Davenport Panthers at 11 AM and the Emory-Riddle Eagles at 3 PM.