MACON, Ga. – The UNCG volleyball team spoiled Mercer's home opener Saturday evening, capturing a 3-1 (17-25, 25-20, 25-14, 26-24) Southern Conference victory inside Hawkins Arena. The win, coupled with last night's sweep at Western Carolina, completed a perfect opening weekend of conference play for the Spartans as they currently stand in a first-place tie with Furman.

UNCG (9-5, 2-0 SoCon) hit .239 with 54 kills on 142 attempts while the Bears (4-10, 1-1 SoCon) fired at a .188 clip (48k/19e/154ta). The Blue and Gold also held the upper hand in aces (8-7) and digs (74-58) and the teams ended up tied in blocks at eight apiece.

Sophomore outside Jessica Brezwyn (Darien, Ill./Hinsdale South) led four UNCG played in double-digit kills with 12. She was joined in double figures by freshman outside Ashley Muench (Hurdle Mills, N.C./Orange), senior middle Vicky Harley (Columbia, S.C./Blythewood) and senior middle Kelsey Sidney (Chesterfield, Mo./Marquette HS) who all tallied 11, 10 and 10 kills respectively.

Turning in another strong performance was sophomore setter Sara Hohman (Zionsville, Ind./Cathedral) who registered her seventh double-double of the season. She notched 42 kills and 16 digs while also adding four kills and three aces.

Defensively, junior libero Katherine Santiago (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Colegio Adianez), who entered the match as the SoCon leader in digs per set, sparkled with a match-high 25 digs.

Buoyed by its home crowd, Mercer came out on fire and scored the first four points of the match. UNCG called for timeouts later in the set when a kill by Cara Tripp made the score 10-5. The Spartans rallied within 14-12 on an ace by Brezwyn and forced Mercer to use a timeout. However, the Bears netted the next four points to establish an 18-12 edge and went on to win the set 25-17.

The Spartans broke a 4-4 deadlock in the second frame with a 3-0 run to build some breathing room. Mercer pulled within 10-8 when Harley committed an attacking error, but UNCG put together a 6-3 run to settle the score at 16-11. The Bears had one last rally in them and crept within 18-17 before the Blue and Gold recovered and scored seven of the final 10 points of the stanza to tie the match with a 25-20 set victory.

With the third set tied at five, a 6-2 run capped by a Mercer attacking error gave UNCG an 11-7 lead. The Spartans had little trouble the rest of the way, taking advantages of 18-11 and 22-13 before closing it out by a 25-14 final score.

The fourth set was a battle the whole way through. An attacking error saw the Spartans grab a 17-14 lead – their biggest of the frame. Mercer called a timeout when a kill by Brezwyn made the score 20-18. The Bears used two kills and an ace to push ahead briefly, 21-20, but a service error and an ace by Brezwyn put the lead back on UNCG's side at 22-21. The teams traded points until the score sat tied at 24 but the Blue and Gold would not be denied on the road. Muench recorded a kill to put the Spartans at set point once again and Jordan Gollon sent an attack out of bounds to seal the win for UNCG.

The Spartans wrap up their seven-match road swing next weekend, continuing SoCon action at East Tennessee State and Furman.

Follow the UNCG volleyball team all season by logging on to www.uncgspartans.com and following the Spartans' official Twitter accounts @UNCGVB and @uncgsports.