LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. – Huntingdon women's volleyball opened the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS) Tournament with a dominant performance Thursday evening, sweeping Belhaven University 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-14) in the first round at the Barnes PE Center.

The Hawks (10-15) controlled the match from start to finish, using a strong offensive performance and a balanced defensive effort to secure their spot in the conference semifinals.

Huntingdon started the opening set with a back-and-forth battle before creating separation midway through. After taking an 11-5 lead, the Hawks maintained their advantage despite a late Belhaven push. A kill from A'Kirra McElveen sealed the 25-22 opening-set victory.

The Hawks carried that momentum into the second set, overcoming an early deficit before putting together a decisive run. With the score tied 9-9, Huntingdon rattled off four consecutive points to take control. The Hawks continued to build their advantage, eventually closing out the set 25-17 to move within one set of advancing.

Huntingdon saved its strongest performance for the third set, jumping out to an early 5-2 lead before extending the advantage to 9-4. The Hawks continued to apply pressure, using a combination of timely kills and strong net play to stretch the lead to 18-8. Huntingdon closed the match with a 25-14 third-set victory to complete the sweep.

McElveen led the Hawks offensively with 13 kills on 26 attempts, hitting an impressive .423 while adding six total blocks. Lily VanDyke contributed six kills while hitting .313, and Morgan Suggs added eight kills and 12 digs.

Ayla Hart orchestrated the offense with 23 assists, while Destin Roberts added eight assists. Salome De Jesus and Suggs paced the defensive effort with 12 digs apiece.

As a team, Huntingdon finished with 40 kills, a .202 hitting percentage and 10 total blocks while limiting Belhaven to a .028 hitting percentage.

With the victory, Huntingdon advances to the CCS Tournament semifinals, setting up a matchup with top-seeded Covenant College tomorrow, November 13, at 5:30 p.m. CT in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

The winner will advance to Saturday's CCS Championship match.