By Sam Armstrong

BUENA VISTA, Va. — In its conference opener, the Southern Virginia University women's volleyball team came through with a huge win on Friday, beating Salisbury University 3-1 in the team's sixth-straight victory. The match also marks the program's first win over the Seagulls.

After going down 5-1 in the first set, the Knights (10-4, 1-0 CAC) came back to take a commanding 24-15 lead over the Seagulls (11-6, 0-1 CAC) before eventually closing it out 25-20. In a close second set, Southern Virginia ended up pulling away again, taking five of the last six points to win 25-18.

It was a different story in the third set, however, with Salisbury jumping out to a 24-18 lead. The Knights made it interesting, winning the next five points with senior Hannah Allred serving to pull within one point of the Seagulls, but finally dropped the set 25-23.

The Knights closed the match out with dominance, winning the first six points of the fourth and final set and never looking back on their way to a 25-19 win.

The big difference in the match came down to the service line, with Southern Virginia finishing with 16 aces compared to Salisbury's four. The Knights also controlled the attack with 51 kills, ten more the Seagulls.

Allred led the Knights in kills (17), service aces (6), and digs (11) in a tremendous performance. Fellow senior Penny Gwynn finished with 15 kills herself to go along with three aces. Hailey Lohnes and Allison Tiegs chipped in eight kills each on the attack.

Setter Laree Crockett assisted on an impressive 45 points, while libero Mykynli Knight had ten digs in the match.

Southern Virginia has their second conference matchup in as many days as they take on Wesley College at 1:00 p.m. in Knights Sports Arena. The match will be broadcast live.