PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) court volleyball team opened Day 2 of the Springhill Suites Invitational at the University of West Florida Field House by taking on its third Top 25 opponent in two days with a morning match versus the 13^th-ranked Wheeling University Cardinals followed by an evening match with the Florida Tech (FIT) Panthers.
 
In the day's first match against the Cardinals (2-1), SHC took a 3-0 loss, falling 21-25 and 12-25 in the first two sets before rallying to hold as much as a four-point lead midway through the third frame. Wheeling responded by finding another gear late in the contest to wrap things up with a 25-23 victory. Sophomore middle hitter Kassandra Fairly had nine kills while senior setter Emmarose Neibert dished out 30 assists. On defense, senior libero Cassidi Sterrett corralled 17 digs and junior middle hitter Bentley Odom out of Murphy High School in Mobile chalked up four blocks.
 
As a team, SHC managed just a .098 (39-25-143) attack percentage against the Cardinal defense. Wheeling finished with a .279 kill percentage (48-9-140), as the Badgers totaled 68 digs and two service aces.
 
The night cap saw SHC take down the Panthers (0-4) in a 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-19) sweep as junior outside hitter Allison Weimer of Covington, La., recorded 10 kills, Neibert had 28 assists, and freshman outside hitter Mikayla Boyer from Covington tallied 23 digs. The Badgers hit for a .233 (39-12-116) attack percentage while holding FIT to a .079 (29-19-127) attack percentage.
 
The Badgers (1-3) next play a non-conference match at the Lee University Flames (2-0) in Cleveland, Tenn., at Paul Dana Walker Arena at 7 p.m. (Eastern).