Gettysburg, PA - The Southern Virginia University women's volleyball team opened their season at the Gettysburg Tournament to face several challenging non-conference opponents. Despite several dominant stretches throughout each of their matches, the team returns home still in search of their first win.

Games 1 & 2

The Knights' season-opening opponents in the first game were the Red Devils of Dickinson College. Dickinson put together a strong start to the match, winning the first two sets to put the Knights on the brink of a quick defeat. The third set began in similar fashion as the Red Devils burst out to a 13-3 lead. However, a kill from sophomore Brookleyn Madland sparked the Knights to five quick points and helped them to a nail-biting 27-25 third-set victory. A back-and-forth fourth set win from the Knights brought the match back to even, but in the fifth set, Dickinson managed to hold off another comeback bid from the Knights to win the match, 3-2. Sydney Bassett finished with 15 kills, and Summer Hahn recorded six blocks in her collegiate debut to lead the Knights.

In Game two against Messiah, it was another hard-fought match, with the first sets decided by a combined five points. The Knights ran on fumes after playing their five sets against Dickinson less than an hour earlier. Messiah won the third set to complete a sweep of the Knights.

Games 3 & 4

After a much-needed night of rest, Southern Virginia prepared to face Susquehanna University for their first match on Saturday. Unlike the first two games, the Knights took early control of the match by winning the first two sets convincingly, 25-18 and 25-12. Susquehanna erased a three-point deficit late in the third set to stave off defeat before going on a run of their own, taking the fourth and winning the decisive fifth set to defeat the Knights. Brookelyn Madland led the team with 19 kills, a career-high, and Gracie Fulton filled in nicely to lead the team with 25 digs.

The fourth and final match of the tournament featured Southern Virginia against York College. After dropping the first set, the Knights took advantage of several attacking errors from York to dominate the second set, 25-9. However, their fortunes would run short, and they dropped the final two sets to come up short of a victory in their final match of the weekend.

The Knights will be back in action on Tuesday, September 3rd, for their home opener against the University of Lynchburg. The two schools have put together competitive matches over the years and have split their last eight contests since 2018, with each team claiming four wins. The match time is set for 7:00 PM.

For the most up-to-date details and information on the team, visit knightathletics.com and follow @knightwvolleyball on Instagram.