RALEIGH, N.C. -- With one exception in the opening match, the Meredith College Avenging Angels made quick work of visiting N.C. Wesleyan College with a pair of 3-0 victories. Scores for the first were 25-14, 25-14, 25-20 and the second 25-19, 25-16, 25-9.

Game 1
Meredith bested the Bishops at the net in each of the first two sets hitting .241 and .250 to Wesleyan's .080 and .033, respectively. But game three gave the Angels some trouble, as MCVB finished .160. That was the only game on the day with the Bishops in double-digit kills.

Five errors in the first nine points of the third frame left the Angels trailing 6-3. A kill from Whitney Bolton on the next play, followed by a hands call on NCW, pulled the Angels to 6-5, but the Bishops scored the next four to extend their lead back to four.

Three ball handling issues for the visitors combined with a pair of service winners for Hailey Long finally pulled MCVB out of the hole 11-10. The teams exchanged errors on the next two plays for a 12-11 Meredith lead until NCW tied the game with a kill from Sloan Martin.

Points shifted back and forth between the two teams over the next 13 plays, but MCVB never trailed again. Back-to-back points for Meredith, including a kill from Long, gave Meredith a three point advantage at 21-18, and two attack errors from the Bishops bumped MCVB's lead to five. A service error sent the ball back to NCW, but Lauren Bissette stuffed the next attempt to give Meredith match-point. The Angels closed out the win to close out the sweep.

Bissette registered two blocks, three hits, and Bolton posted three blocks, three kills. Long served up seven winners with six kills and five digs, while Ally Copenhaver finished with seven kills, five digs. Avery Bowman shared the game-high eight kills with NCW's Lauren Weaver, and nine digs with three blocks. Bailey Lucas posted the match's only double-double with 24 assists, 11 digs. Lauren Phillips and Abby Lee combined for seven digs. 

Bishop Sam Butensky led the match with 12 digs.

Game 2
The second match flowed much smoother for the Avenging Angels, who improved to .444 from the attack with only five errors. Copenhaver and Phillips posted 11 and 13 digs, respectively, to help hold the Bishops to a hitting percentage of just .111, and Bowman stepped in for 23 assists with Lucas notching nine.

Copenhaver's 12 kills gave her a double-double, while Long and Bowman combined for 17. 

Meredith travels next weekend to Greensboro College for a 10 a.m. doubleheader versus the Pride. Follow the live action HERE. The top four teams from each division qualify for their respective divisional tournament, so each conference match remains important to the Avenging Angels.

Meredith College Sports Spectator Policy