Greenville, S.C. – Behind a .350 team hitting percentage, Furman volleyball downed ETSU, 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-20) to open SoCon play Friday night in Alley Gym. The win moves the Paladins to 7-4 overall and 1-0 in SoCon play. The loss drops ETSU to 9-5 overall and 0-1 in SoCon play.

The Paladins put down 46 kills to ETSU's 27, and held the Buccaneers to a .122 hitting percentage. Annie Bierman led the team with 13 kills and 12 digs, and turned in a .500 hitting percentage. Christen Sikora put down 12 kills and eight digs, while Amelia Bohlander added eight kills. Jo Wilks dished out 40 assists and Carris Campbell recorded a team-high three blocks.

ETSU was led by Briana Allmon with 10 kills, while Hailey Aguilar turned in nine digs.

ETSU jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in set one, before the teams traded points as the Buccaneers took a 7-3 lead. Furman then used a 5-1 run of their own to tie the match at eight. The teams traded points until ETSU took an 11-10 lead, but the Paladins came roaring back and used a 6-1 run to push their lead to four at 16-12. ETSU cut Furman's lead to two at 17-15, but the Paladins used another 5-1 run to push their lead to six at 22-16, forcing ETSU to use its final timeout of the set. Out of the timeout, Furman used a 3-1 run to take the set, 25-17, for a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Buccaneers again jumped out to an early lead in set two at 7-3, before Christen Sikora served six-straight points for Furman and the Paladins took a 10-7 lead. ETSU cut the lead to two at 10-8, but Furman used an 8-2 run to push the lead to 16-9 and force the Buccaneers to take their final timeout of the set. Out of the timeout, ETSU used a 6-3 run of their own to cut the lead to four at 19-15, but the Paladins closed out the match on a 6-2 run to take set  two, 25-17, for a 2-0 lead.

It was Furman who took an early 9-6 lead in set three, before ETSU cut the lead to one at 9-8. Furman pushed the lead back to four at 13-9, but ETSU again cut into the lead at 13-11. The Paladins again pushed the lead to four at 15-11 and the teams then traded points until the Buccaneers cut into the lead at 19-16. Furman then used three-straight points to open up a six-point lead at 22-16, before ETSU used four-straight to cut the lead to two at 22-20. After an ETSU service error, Furman used a kill by Christen Sikora and an ace by Caitlyn Scioscia gave the Paladins the 25-20 set three win and 3-0 match victory.

Furman is back in action tomorrow night as it plays host to Mercer in Alley Gym at 7:30 p.m.