Volleyball Lady ‘Cats tumble to two ranked opponents in 2022 debut

Sports Release
August 27, 2022

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The West Virginia Wesleyan (0-2) volleyball team fell in matches against No. 24 Nova Southeastern (2-0) and No. 1 Tampa (2-0) on Friday at the Queens Fall Classic in Charlotte, N.C.

WVWC Leaders

Najla Bray led the Lady Bobcats` offensive attack with 10 kills. Mya Bajramovic chipped in with eight kills. Payton Hefner tallied 17 assists. On the defensive end, Autumn Molenhouse led the way with 21 digs.

#24 Nova Southeastern 3, WVWC 0

The first match totaled eight tie scores and 10 lead changes. With the set tied at 12, the Sharks scored back-to-back points to extend the lead to two. Wesleyan answered and cut the lead to one. The Sharks fired off three straight points to lead 17-14. Kills from Bray and Bajramovic cut the Lady Bobcat deficit to 22-20. NSU responded with two points of their own to push the lead back to four before eventually claiming the first set, 25-22.

Nova Southeastern stormed to a fast start in set two, commanding a 5-1 lead. A service error from Jordan Chessar ended the scoring run for the Sharks. WVWC cut the lead to three after a kill from Joelle Lalla. The Sharks stepped on the gas and took a 17-7 lead. NSU won set two, 25-17.

The Sharks controlled the third set and did not concede consecutive points to WVWC. Nova Southeastern went on a 6-0 run followed by a 7-0 run to win set three, 25-9.

#1 Tampa 3, WVWC 0

Tampa opened set one with a sense of urgency by jumping out to a 5-1 lead. WVWC fired back with four straight points to tie the score 5-5. From that point, both teams traded scoring runs. Fueled by two separate 4-0 scoring runs, the Spartans closed out set one by a score of 25-14.

WVWC would begin set two with a 2-1 lead. The Spartans fired off five straight points to make the score 6-2. WVWC got things rolling and scored eight straight to retake the lead at 11-7. Tampa stormed back and rallied off four straight points to tie the game at 11. After Wesleyan retook the lead 14-13, the Spartans scored six straight to make the score 19-14. WVWC cut the lead down to two at 22-20. Tampa would grind out the final three points of the set and won 25-21.

The Spartans scored the opening four points of the third set. WVWC responded with three consecutive points to come within one. At 5-5, the Spartans ripped off seven straight points to take a 12-5 edge. The Spartans continued the momentum and tallied two separate 4-0 runs. The defending national champions closed out the match with a 25-13 set three win.

Up Next

The Lady Bobcats were scheduled to wrap up play at the Queens Fall Classic on Saturday (Aug. 27) afternoon. WVWC was slated to play Lee at noon followed by a match with Mount Olive at 4 p.m.