Wilmington, NC - West Georgia volleyball fell 3-0 to UNC Wilmington and Charlotte on the first day of the UNCW Hampton Inn University Invitational.

The Wolves' (0-9) second consecutive weekend in Carolina kicked off with UWG being unable to get enough going offensively to overcome the hungry UNCW Seahawks (1-6) or the formidable Charlotte 49ers (5-3) today in Wilmington. 

UWG returns to Hanover Hall tomorrow to face UNC Greensboro at 11 a.m. Click here for live stats of the match. 

MATCH ONE DETAILS
The opening set of the match was the tightest of the three. Kicking off on the race to the double-digit mark, the match was tied five times on the way to ten points. Once both teams surpassed this mark, UNCW started to pull away, going on an 8-1 run to take an 18-11 advantage. The hosts grabbed this lead on a combination of UWG errors and back-to-back Seahawk aces, but the Wolves were not ready to roll over. Garnering points from a whole host of Wolves, UWG clawed its way back to being down just 20-17. Sadly, the Seahawks outlasted the comeback before the Wolves could overtake, leading to UNCW taking set one 25-20.

Similar to the first set, the following one was neck-and-neck through the opening volleys. Things stayed close until two UWG service errors and some quick kills by UNCW gave the Seahawks a five-point advantage. With Rylee Henderson and Valiree Schmus leading the way, the Wolves stayed within striking distance but could never overcome the early deficit, resulting in a 25-17 loss for West Georgia. 

Both teams opened the final set trading blows to kick things off, but UNCW quickly took control of the game. UWG could not get anything going, leading to a 25-11 win for UNC Wilmington. 
 
For the sixth match in a row, Schmus led the Wolves in points and kills, posting a team-high nine points and eight kills. 

MATCH TWO DETAILS
With Henderson and Grace-Blythe Cornett pushing the pace to open match two, the two squads traded points through the first 12 scores. Like the first match, the Wolves' hot start began to cool down once they reached the halfway point. A handful of attack errors by UWG resulted in the 49ers taking set one, 25-18.

Continuing to stagger in the second set, Charlotte jumped out to an 11-5 lead by securing points off of well-placed kills. While there were some really solid plays made by UWG, like Molly Brunell's back-to-back kills, the 49ers ran away with the set and did not look back, winning 25-16.

Despite falling behind 2-0, the Wolves continued to fight in the third set. Tallying two points off a pair of Cornett kills and a Charlotte error, UWG took a 3-0 lead to start things off, their biggest advantage of the day. The 49ers quickly recovered, grabbing a tight lead, but West Georgia kept pace until both teams had reached 15 points. Around this mark, Charlotte closed it out with a 6-2 scoring run to secure a 25-17 win.

Cornett led the team with 10 points from 10 kills.

NEXT UP
The Wolves close out the UNCW Hampton Inn University Invitational tomorrow with an 11 a.m. match against UNC Greensboro. Live stats for this match are linked on the team's page here.