WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. ---- In the first game of a three day Mid-South Conference road trip, the Life University women's volleyball team defeated the University of the Cumberlands 3-1 as junior libero Marin Black surpassed 2,000 career digs Thursday night.

NOTES
• Life U improved to 25-9 (9-5) on the year as Cumberlands dropped to 8-12.
 
STANDOUT PERFORMERS 
• Black finished the match with 31 digs and added a service ace with three assists to become the program leader in digs. 
• Lena Pucnik continued her stellar season with 20 kills and 16 digs. She added a pair of service aces.
• Mary Zimmerman and Fayola Louis each finished with 10 kills in the match as Brie Montgomery tallied 23 assists. Kennedy Neal added 20 assists with Savannah Keener picking up 13 digs.  
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 
• Cumberlands jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the first set. Life U chipped away to cut the lead to one, 9-8, with the kill from C. Neal, but the Patriots went on a 6-2 run to lead by five, 15-10. A 7-2 run from the Running Eagles ended on a kill from Louis as Life U took a 21-20 lead. An attack error from the Patriots gave the Running Eagles the first set 25-23.
• Life U led 3-1 in the early moments of the second set, but Cumberlands used a 6-1 run in the middle of the set to lead by four, 13-9. Trailing 21-16 late in the set, Life U took advantage of a few Cumberlands errors with a 6-1 run to tie the set at 22. Life U earned set point with a kill from Louis 26-25, however Cumberlands ended the set on a 4-1 run to win 29-27.
• Neither team held a significant lead in the third set, until Cumberlands used a 5-1 run to lead 20-15. Life U answered immediately with an 8-0 run to lead 23-20. The Patriots responded with a 3-0 run to tie the set and went ahead 25-24 after a pair of attack errors from the Running Eagles. Life U bounced back with a pair of kills from Pucnik as Mollick provided the final point to give Life U the 27-25 win. 
• Life U held an early 10-6 lead over Cumberlands in the fourth set as Louis picked up the kill. Life U maintained the lead throughout the remainder of the set, however Cumberlands brought the set to within two, 22-20. Pucnik picked up the kill as Black served up an ace to put the Running Eagles on match point, 24-20. An attack error from Cumberlands ended the set 25-20 for the Life U win. 
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Cumberlands led Life U in nearly every statistical category as the Running Eagles finished with 52 kills to the 54 from the Patriots. Life U finished with a hitting percentage of .137 as Cumberlands finished .193.
• Cumberlands led Life U 12-5 in blocks, however the Running Eagles held a 7-5 advantage in service aces over the Patriots.
• Cumberlands edged Life U in assists 52-46, and 91-89 in digs.

UP NEXT
• The women's volleyball team will continue its MSC road trip tomorrow, Friday, April 2, as they head to Lebanon, TN to face Cumberland University at 2 PM EST.