ST. MARY'S CITY, Md.—Starting Capital Athletic Conference play on the road, the Southern Virginia University women's volleyball team earned a 3-1 (25-15, 25-20, 20-25, 25-14) victory over host St. Mary's College of Maryland Wednesday evening at the O'Brien ARC Arena in St. Mary's City, Maryland.

The Knights got off to a quick start with their 25-15 opening set victory. Point-for-point early on, freshmen Vanessa Pawlak and Calyn Barry led the charge to push the Knights ahead 12-6. Freshman Hannah Phillips and senior Kaitlyn Eaton also contributed several kills in the frame to lead Southern Virginia in its strong start.

Southern Virginia got off to a 3-0 rally in the second set and eventually built a 14-8 lead off a Seahawk service error. After four straight St. Mary's points, Pawlak earned a kill to ignite a run that led to a 20-15 advantage. Barry and Phillips finished off the set with consecutive kills to build a commanding 2-0 set lead.

Unable to finish off the Seahawks in three sets, St. Mary's earned a hard-fought 25-20 set three win to trim the Knight lead to 2-1.

The Knights stormed back in the fourth set to build a quick 6-0 advantage that grew to 13-4 following another Seahawk service error. Barry and Phillips were once again pivotal in guiding the Knight attack while setter Katelynn Tlustek and middle blocker Kaitlyn Eaton picked up a few more kills en route to the win.

Pawlak topped it off with a hard spike off an assist from Tlustek to give the Knights the 25-14 set win and 3-1 overall victory.

Eaton finished the game with 18 kills while Pawlak was close behind with 14.  Tlustek guided the offensive attack with 45 assists for the night, while McKenna Koster and April Bennett poured in five service aces.  Bennett finished with 19 digs with Koster contributing 13. Barry and Eaton each had four block assists to stuff the net.

Southern Virginia has a quick turnaround as it heads to Lynchburg, Virginia, Thursday evening to take on Randolph College at 7 p.m.