STAUNTON, Va. - The Mary Baldwin University women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 (26-24, 22-25, 20-25, 18-25) contest to Southern Virginia University on Wednesday night. The match was the conference opener for the Fighting Squirrels.

The action was back and forth, and the Squirrels capitalized by clinching the first set 26-24 after a kill by senior Rachel Christian.

The second and third sets were just as back and forth as the Squirrels tied the Knights 21-21 in the second and 18-18 in the third before falling 25-18 in the fourth and final set.

Leading MBU offensively was Christian as she finished with a season-high 16 kills, while Sydney Clarke was close behind with nine kills and four service aces.

For SVU, Courtney Pinkston, finished with 16 kills to lead the team, while Sage Matheny dropped in 33 assists to stop the momentum of the Squirrels.

The Fighting Squirrels return to action this weekend for home matches on Saturday against Methodist at 12:00 p.m. and Salem at 4:00 p.m.