SALEM, Va. - The Shenandoah University volleyball team split a pair of matches on the opening day of the Roanoke Tournament Friday afternoon.

The Hornets (1-3) began the day by sweeping Ferrum, 3-0, before falling to host Roanoke College, 0-3. The victory over Ferrum was the first at Shenandoah for Head Coach Sarah Pelster.

SU used an solid all-around team effort to topple the Panthers 30-22, 34-32, 30-15, for just the squad's second victory between the two schools since the beginning of the 2000 season. Shenandoah dominated the service game against FC registering 15 aces in the match to Ferrum's two, and committed a mere eight service errors to the 12 faults recorded by the Panthers.

Unfortunately for SU, the Hornets could not parlay the momentum generated by the opening match into a duplicate performance in the nightcap as host Roanoke swept SU 30-6, 30-25, and 30-17.

Sophomore Jenny Gray (Sumerduck, Va./Liberty) and junior Hannah Williams (Salem, Va./Glenvar) powered the front line for the Hornets against the Maroons with eight kills/11 digs and five kills/10 digs, respectively. Senior Lesley Beard (Youngstown, Ohio/Austintown Finch) held down the back line with 10 assists and 12 digs.

A complete boxscore and play by play for the Ferrum match can be found at http://www.su.edu/athletics/vb/2003/090503.htm

Shenandoah continues the Roanoke Tournament tomorrow with matches against Hollins at 10:00 and NC Wesleyan at noon.