WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Southern Wesleyan women's volleyball team dropped their season opener in the Northwood Hardwood Classic on Friday morning, falling to St. Thomas (Fla.) in four sets 25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 25-13.

The Warriors will take on Florida College later in the day on Friday before playing Roosevelt (9:30 a.m.) and the hosts Northwood (1:45 p.m.) on Saturday.

Sarah Hughey led the Warriors with 13 kills including eight on 12 attacks in the second set alone, the lone set SWU won in the match.  Hughey balanced out her performance with a team-high 18 digs and four blocks, recording a double-double in her first court action for the Warriors.

SWU fell behind in the first set as St. Thomas (5-1) took six of seven points to take a 13-6 lead midway through the set.  The Warriors fought back after seeing the deficit grow to 18-10 by winning five straight but the initial margin was too much to overcome.

In the second the Warriors turned the tables by jumping out to an early 12-5 lead.  Hughey scored four of five points for the Warriors in the middle of the set as the lead grew to 19-10. After St. Thomas scored six of seven points to close the gap to 21-19 a service error from St. Thomas gave SWU some room to breathe.  Hughey followed with a kill and after a STU kill freshman Shelby Sheets came up with a big block, one of her four in the match, and Hughey closed it out with a kill as the Warriors took the second.

The Warriors hit well in the first and second sets at .297 and .233 but St. Thomas was nearly unstoppable at .351 in the first set, but regressed to .119 in the second. Neither team hit well in the third and St. Thomas took control in the fourth.

SWU was down 23-17 in the third and rallied to cut the cap to 23-20 as Jacinta Hoffpauir collected two of her four kills of the set during the run.  St. Thomas responded as Dana Nowaczyk picked up a kill to end the rally and a bad set by SWU on the last point gave the victory to STU.  SWU hit .094 in the third set while St. Thomas was just a touch better a .105.

St. Thomas jumped all over the Warriors in the fourth, taking 11 of the first 12 points to build a momentous lead.  A brief rally from the Warriors brought the margin to 16-7 but four straight points from STU effectively sealed the fate for the Warriors.

SWU had three players reach double figures in kills as Cherilyn Ramsey and Alysia Cruell each added 10 kills to go along with Hughey's 13.  Cruell also added a double-double with 10 digs.  Milica Stamenic and Courtney O'Brien added 13 and 12 digs respectively while Megan Widener tallied 38 assists.

The Warriors hit .192 for the match while St. Thomas came in at .242.  The Bobcats were big at the net, recording seven solo blocks and 14 block assists for 14 total blocks.  The Warriors had a decent showing with eight total blocks.

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