WHEELING, W.Va. (Sept. 7) - The Wheeling Jesuit University volleyball team earned a pair of 3-0 wins over Clarion and Slippery Rock on the first day of the Atlantic Region Crossover at the McDonough Center Friday evening.

The Cardinals, who are ranked No. 14 in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Top-25 Poll, improve to 8-2 overall. Meanwhile, Clarion moves to 7-3 overall and The Rock goes to 3-3 on the season.

No. 14 Wheeling Jesuit 3, Clarion 0 (25-12, 26-24, 25-18)

Redshirt-sophomore Breanna Kramer (Norwalk, Ohio/Monroeville) picked up 15 kills to lead the Cardinals to a 3-0 win over Clarion to start the day.

Junior Haley Kramer (Norwalk, Ohio/Monroeville) paced her twin-sister with 12 kills and tallied seven blocks on defense. Junior Stephanie Sylvester (Oregon, Ohio/St. Ursula Academy) guided the offense with 44 assists and added nine digs to her final line.

Defensively, a trio of Cardinals registered double-digit digs, including sophomore Audrey Francis (Sydney, Ohio/Fairlawn), who posted a match-best 28 in the win.

WJU was dominant in its 25-12 opening set win. The Cardinals hit .438 as a team and did not surrender consecutive points to the Golden Eagles on its way to a 1-0 lead.

Clarion looked poised to score an upset in the second set, leading 24-21, but kills by sophomore Makenna Babb (Arlington, Ohio/McComb) and Haley Kramer pulled the Cardinals within one point. The Golden Eagles went on to post a trio of attack errors to allow WJU to pull out the 26-24 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Clarion kept the third set close early on, but the Cardinals notched 11 of the final 18 points to pull away for a 25-18 win and a straight-set victory.

Clarion's Julia Holden led her team with 10 kills in the loss.

No. 14 Wheeling Jesuit 3, Slippery Rock 0 (25-13, 27-25, 25-19)

Led by 13-kill performances by Haley Kramer and sophomore Cassie Meyer (Jackson Center, Ohio/Jackson Center), the No. 14 Cardinals claimed a 3-0 win over Slippery Rock to close the opening night of the Atlantic Region Crossover.

Meyer also chipped in 16 digs on the evening to notch her fourth kill-dig double-double of the season. Sylvester tossed around 46 assists in the match, while Babb recorded a game-high 21 digs in the win.

The second match of the night played out very similarly to the Clarion match. WJU cruised in the opening set 25-13 win, holding The Rock to a negative-.152 hitting percentage. Slippery Rock was on the brink of tying the match up at one game apiece when they took a 24-21 in the second set, but the Cardinals rallied behind kills from Haley Kramer and Meyer to tie the set up at 24-24. After the two teams traded points, Meyer put the finishing touches on the set at 27-25 with a kill that snuck inside the left side line to give WJU a 2-0 advantage.

Slippery Rock did not go away quietly in the third set. The Rock opened up a 17-13 lead, before the Cardinals rallied to take 12 of the next 14 points to put the finishing touches on a second straight-set sweep on Friday night.

The Rock was led by Gabby Huck, who recorded 11 kills to lead her team.

Wheeling Jesuit is back on its home court tomorrow, Saturday, September 8 for the final day of the Atlantic Region Crossover. The Cardinals will open the day at 12 p.m. against Shippensburg, before closing the event against Pitt.-Johnstown at 6 p.m.