BUENA VISTA, Va.—Reaching the midpoint of conference season, the Southern Virginia University women's volleyball team earned a 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-20) defeat of Mary Washington Wednesday evening at Knight Sports Arena in Buena Vista, Virginia.

The Knights (15-7, 3-1) started slow in the opening set, but rattled off three straight set victories to win their third straight game at home and 12th of last 14 matches overall to pick up their 15th victory of the year. The tally matches last season's win total with seven regular season games and the CAC tournament still to play.

"We really picked it up in different areas we had been working on this week," said Southern Virginia head coach Brittney Lee. "I was happy with our effort and overall performance, but we'll continue to work on our serves and not allowing our opponents to go on big runs.

"Katelynn Tlustek had a really big game for us and Kaitlyn Eaton had a big effect in the middle in our attack."

Tlustek put Southern Virginia in the right path following the opening set loss by rattling off three straight service aces in the back right corner that the Eagles struggled to contest, lifting the Knights to a quick 5-0 lead.  Mary Washington eventually tied it up at nine apiece before the Knights went on a 7-0 run led by two more aces from Tlustek and a few kills by Eaton.

In the third set, the Knights built a 10-6 lead before the teams went point-for-point the rest of the way with Southern Virginia claiming the 25-21 set win. Freshman Vanessa Pawlak earned three kills in the frame with Eaton contributing one as Tlustek picked up the final kill to lift the Knights to a 2-1 lead.

Southern Virginia did not trail in the fourth set, jumping to a 10-7 lead and not allowing the Eagles within two points of the advantage as the Knights earned the 25-20 set win and 3-1 match victory.

Pawlak led the Knights with 15 kills on the night while Eaton poured in eight and freshman Calyn Barry six. Tlustek finished with 25 assists and season-high seven service aces on the evening while freshman setter Valerie Arkansas contributed 12.

Defensively, April Bennett led the way with 25 digs with Pawlak adding 14 and McKenna Koster registering eight.  Eaton and middle blocker Melissa Owen each had three block assists on the night.

Mary Washington's Rachel Hendricks led the Eagles with 14 kills on the night.

Southern Virginia next competes Saturday on the road at Salisbury to continue CAC play. The match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in Salisbury, Maryland.