VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. — The Southern Virginia University women's volleyball team traveled to Virginia Wesleyan University to compete in the Marlin Invitational, going 1-2 over the weekend to kick off their 2022 season.
 
Game One: Millsaps

• Courtney Pinkston led all players with a game-high 22 kills, followed by Sydney Hopkin with eight, and Jilane Pedersen with five
• Defensively, Emma Steiger shined for the Knights recording 27 digs, along with two aces
• Pedersen made her presence felt at the net, tallying three blocks while Brenna Clyde and Hopkin each recorded one
• In her first start for the Knights, Jessi Fietkau led the offense with 24 assists
• After going up 1-0 after the first set, Millsaps answered, winning sets two and three
• Southern Virginia bounced back with a dominant 25-17 fourth set victory before claiming their first match of the season in the fifth set 15-13

 
Game Two: Randolph-Macon

• Sydney Hopkin led the team with nine kills, followed by Courtney Pinkston with eight. Breanna Clyde rounded out the offense with four kills
• Emma Steiger continued anchoring the defense with a game-high 12 digs, along with two service aces
• Ashley Torbeson dominated at the net with four blocks, followed by three more by Jilane Pedersen
• The Yellow Jackets controlled the game from the beginning, going up 1-0 early with a 25-21 first set victory
• Randolph-Macon continued their dominance the remainder of the match, sweeping Southern Virginia 3-0 in the second game of the tournament

 
Game Three: Virginia Wesleyan

• Courtney Pinkston picked up where she left off in the team's final game of the tournament, tallying a game-high 20 kills. Sydney Hopkin finished second on the team with eight, while Jilane Pedersen added seven
• Tatum Matheny was a menace from the service line, recording four aces against the Marlins, bringing her total ten over the weekend
• Emma Steiger again led all players defensively with 20 digs in the match while Ashley Torbeson recorded four blocks
• Southern Virginia grabbed early momentum in the game, grabbing the first set 25-23 and going up 1-0 after Torbeson and Hopkin recorded the finals kills of the first
• The Marlins answered confidently, taking the following three sets to wrap up the Marlin Invitational with a 3-1 victory over the Knights

 
Southern Virginia will look to bounce back, welcoming the University of Lynchburg to Knight Arena on Tuesday, September 6^th. Game time begins at 6 pm with live stats and streaming options available on knightathletics.com.

Follow the women's volleyball team @knightwvolleyball on Instagram and @knightwvolley on Twitter for more updates and details on the team.