DUE WEST, S.C. – The 2022 volleyball season began with a setback on Friday night, as the UWG Wolves fell to Francis Marion 3-1 in game one of the Erskine Invitational.
 
Zoë LaBreche led the way offensively for the Wolves in game one, racking up 14 kills and a team-high .233 hitting percentage in her debut.  
 
An early deficit in the first set was too much to overcome for the Wolves in the opening set. Francis Marion jumped out to a 9-3 lead, forcing Kara Hellmann to take a timeout. West Georgia would get within three before Francis Marion forced another timeout leading 19-11. The Wolves responded with a 9-4 run to get within three once again before the Patriots closed it out.
 
Neither team led by more than three in a back-and-forth second set. UWG had the first three-point advantage at the 12-9 mark, but FMU would battle to back to tie it at 13-13. The Patriots then took a three-point lead at 21-18 before a bad set, a block by Hannah Speeney and Sanai Young, a kill from Emilee Harris, and an ace courtesy of Sydney Blackmon flipped the script and put UWG up 22-21. The Wolves never trailed again in the set as they would even the match at one set apiece.
 
In the third, UWG was plagued with eight attack errors while Francis Marion capitalized by hitting .265 to cruise to 25-16 victory and take a 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
The fourth set started neck-and-neck, and after an 8-8 tie, Francis Marion went up 14-10. That's when UWG rattled off a 7-0 run to take a lead and force an FMU timeout. The Patriots responded however by fighting back to tie it up at 20-20 before winning the race to 25 and clinching the match.
 
Harris added 12 kills to the cause while Caitlin Frazee was third on the team with eight, with five of them coming in the final set. Hannah Speeney had a solid debut at setter, finishing with 37 assists.
 
West Georgia will be back in action tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. to resume the Erskine Invitational with the first of two Saturday contests. The Wolves face off against Young Harris in the early match before a 3 p.m. contest with host Erskine.