KINGSPORT, Tenn.— Playing in the first round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament in Kingsport, Tenn. Thursday afternoon, the No. 9 seeded Montreat volleyball team faced the No. 8 seed, the University of Pikeville Bears. The Cavaliers overcame a slow start to notch a 3-set sweep, their first postseason victory since 2012, and improve to 15-10 on the year.
 
Pikeville (20-12) claimed the initial four points of the competition and eight of the opening nine, forcing an early timeout from the Cavaliers. After trailing 9-2, Montreat rattled off five consecutive points thanks to a pair of blocks from Shalice Lynch and a kill from Kamryn Wolf to trim the deficit down to just two (9-7) before kills from Alex Marsh, Elizabeth Harrington and Wolf knotted the set at 11.
 
From there, the teams traded points over a stretch that featured six more ties prior to a service ace from Lexi Wible that gave the Cavs a 19-18 advantage. Ultimately, Montreat was able to overcome the early gap thanks to an 8-2 run and efficient hitting over the majority of the frame. Wolf led a stout attack with five first-set kills as the Cavaliers notched 14 kills to Pikeville's nine and outhit the Bears .480 to .129 by committing just two attack errors in the 25-20 triumph.
 
UPIKE captured three of the first four points of the second; however, Montreat answered quickly with six straight, including three consecutive kills from Katie Dickey, to give the Cavs a 7-3 edge. Five attack miscues by the Cavaliers kept the Bears close, but back-to-back kills from Wolf kickstarted a 9-1 stretch that propelled the No. 9 seed to a 19-10 lead. Wolf notched a pair of aces, Dickey registered two kills and Harrington added another during the vital run. Montreat closed the set with two aces from Reese Davis that completed a 15-3 span and enabled the Cavs to go up 2-0 with a dominant 25-12 effort. In the frame, the Cavaliers held Pikeville to just six kills while tallying 13 of their own.
 
Fighting for their season, the Bears jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the third set. Undeterred after falling behind once more, kills from five different Cavs, including a trio from Wolf and two UPIKE errors, fueled a 10-2 run that swung momentum into Montreat's favor with an 11-9 edge. The Cavaliers maintained their advantage midway through the set, expanding the score out to a 5-point gap (19-14) thanks to another Davis service ace and leading by as many as six (21-15) late in the frame. Despite a run by the Bears that closed their deficit to just three (23-20), Wolf ended the match with the Cavs' 17^th kill of the set and her 17^th kill of the day to seal a 25-21 frame victory and a 3-0 sweep.
 
On the team's 6-match win streak and momentum over the past month, Wolf mentioned, "I think it comes down to the last time we played Pikeville. We didn't have our best game, and we didn't play to our full potential. After that game we came together, had a talk and said, 'we know we're good, we have so much potential and we can beat anyone.' We started to believe that, and it's shown."
 
The confidence certainly showed through offensively as Montreat outhit its counterpart in every set, registering at least 13 kills and a minimum hitting percentage of .235 every game. Overall, the Cavaliers tallied 18 more kills than Pikeville (44-26) and four fewer errors (15-11) to hit .344 to the favored team's mere .111. The Cavs also led in service aces (9-6), total blocks (4.0-2.0) and assists (43-25).
 
"These girls have worked so hard. We've pushed really hard over the last couple of years since I've been here. Their effort, their heart and the legacy they want to leave behind showed through," noted head coach Brittany Carpenter. "We started off a little slow but settled in, figured it out and played aggressively. When Pikeville scored good points, we moved on, looked ahead and did what we needed to do to get the job done."
 
Individually, Wolf recorded an outstanding 17-kill, 14-dig double-double, while hitting .452 in the match. Dickey fell one dig short of a double-double with her 10 kills and nine digs. Marsh and Harrington each collected five kills, and Lynch added four with a .667 hitting percentage. Wible (12) joined Wolf in double figures in digs, while Katie Alexander (22 assists) and Davis (17 assists) split the setting duties. Wolf and Davis each totaled a match-best three aces.
 
Volleyball now faces No. 1 seed Columbia International University in the quarterfinal round of the AAC Tournament tomorrow in Kingsport, Tenn. First serve between the Cavaliers and the Rams is scheduled for 11 a.m.
 
"I'm excited to come out and work hard tomorrow. We've gotten to a place where we know what that competition looks like, and we're up for the challenge. We're looking for an upset. At the end of the day, our goals are to play hard, play for each other and give all the glory to God," Carpenter concluded.