ETTRICK, VA – The Virginia State University Volleyball team (2-6) enjoyed a dominating win Saturday evening against Chowan University sweeping them 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-18) to Conclude the VSU Volleyball Classic.

The Trojans seemed to have everything working as Freshman Amaya Cooper led the team in kills with nine while fellow freshamn Leyla Conley finished with eight kills. Cooper earned nine kills for the third time this season and saw a career-high six blocks in the contest. She also earned a career and match-high 12.5 points. Conley has quietly been making an impact all season long as eight kills becomes her new career-high as she hit a career-high .412. She earned double digit points (10.5) for the second straight game. Kennedy Hoge earned a match-high and personal best four aces along with nine digs in the contest. Taniyah Epps earned a career-high six blocks in the win. Makenzy Johnson led the match in assists with 13  while Emma Quarles had 12. Defensively, Najlaa Williams led the team with 12 digs as that put her over 100 on the season (102.) Johnson continues to show her versatility as she earned a personal best nine digs. 

Game Notes

• Freshmen Amaya Cooper led the team with nine kills yet again while also accounting for a career-high six blocks along with 12.5 points. 
• Leyla Conley earned a career-high eight kills along with three blocks and an ace which led to 10.5 points. She also ended with a match-high .412 hitting percentage.
• Leyla Conley led the team in hitting percentage with a .412.
•  Taniyah Epps earned a career and match-high six blocks.
• Makenzy Johnson made her presence felt as she ended with a personal best nine digs along with a match-high 13 assists.
• VSU won the battle of kills 36-26.
• The Trojans yet again earned more block than their opponent 10-2.
• Virginia State was able to finish with six aces to just one from Chowan.
• VSU hit a season-high .196
• For the first time this season, the Trojans finished with 10 total blocks. 

How It Happened

SET 1 | The Trojans started out strong as they controlled the set with a 5-2 start. The Trojans were hot when it came to their kills early on as their next 14 points came from kills. The Trojans played a strong defensive set as they went to close out the set on a 9-0 run while led to a 25-13 win.

SET 2 | The Trojans did not get off to as strong of a start as they did in the first set as they trailed after the first 13 points with a score of 7-6. However, after the Trojans got the lead at 8-7, they didn't look back and went on to win 25-20.

SET 3 | The Trojans got off to an unlikely slow start after trailing 4-0 early on. The resilient squad gradually crawled themselves back into the game and regained the lead at 20-18 after back-to-back service aces by Kennedy Hoge. From there, Amaya Cooper took over and tallied three of the next five points for the Trojans through kills. The Trojans went on to win the set 25-18.

What's Next

Virginia State gets to pack up again and prepare to head back to West Virginia as they will partake in the UC Invitational next weekend on Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10. Their first game on Friday will be at 9:30 a.m. against Belmont Abbey College and then later that day at 3:00 p.m. they face Bloomsburg University. On Saturday, the face squad will face Salem University at 9:30 a.m. and the University of Charleston at 6:00 p.m.