SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford volleyball team returned home and opened its own Wofford Invitational with authority Friday by defeating both Queens and Campbell in straight-set sweeps inside Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The morning began with the defeat of the Royals (25-9, 25-15, 25-21), and the nightcap featured the triumph over the Fighting Camels (25-11, 25-16, 25-12). Wofford is now 3-2 on the season, moving above .500.
 
Match One
Bright and early Friday morning, the Terriers were already awake and playing at full strength with 50 kills to the 31 of the Royals. Wofford recorded a season-high five aces while not allowing Queens to notch any. The Royals earned an advantage at the net with five blocks to Wofford's three, but the Terriers led the way everywhere else with 45 assists and 74 digs to the 28 and 60, respectively of the Royals. Those 74 digs are tied for the third most in a three-set match in program history and are the most in a three-set contest since posting the same number against Jacksonville in 2015. Wofford boasted a .307 hitting clip while holding Queens to a .143 mark.
 
Freshman Bradley Brown led the way for Wofford with nine kills while a trio of Terriers posted seven behind her – Mary Emily Morgan, Sarah MacLean and Annemarie Rakoski. Brown hit .500 in the contest with Rakoski boasting an errorless .636 mark.
 
Taylor Pecht dished 23 assists the pace the offensive efforts with Maddy Frazier contributing 16 helpers of her own. Frazier posted a pair of aces, as did Bri Mahoney.
 
Defensively, Rakoski held down the net with two blocks. Laney Klika tallied 23 digs to pace the team with Morgan adding 10 to also reach double figures. Klika's digs are tied for the eighth most in a three-set match in program history.
 
"I think in practice we talk about being relentless on defense," said Klika of the team's defensive efforts. "If you don't go for a ball, you never know if you can get it, so I think we all have that mindset. I'm really proud of the girls around me because we all come together and all have that mindset together, which makes us a well-oiled machine."
 
A pair of Terriers reached high marks as Mad Wilson (three) and Emily Normand (two) both tallied career-high kills. Freshmen Anna Adcock and Megan Brown made their collegiate debuts in the match.
 
"We're 16-strong basically. Our team, no matter who's put in, can show out and do well," said Annemarie Rakoski of the team's debuts and depth.
 
The match opened closely with the squads tied at 4-4 early, but Bradley Brown recorded a kill to kick off a 7-1 swing that saw Wofford pull ahead 11-5. Another five-point swing lifted the margin to 16-6. The teams traded a few points with back-to-back scores for the Royals making the score 19-9, but a service error began what turned into a six-point run to end the set. Mary Emily Morgan's kill ended the opening frame with the Terriers on top 25-9.
 
Wofford carried the momentum of the strong start into set two, winning the first four points, highlighted by a pair of Sarah MacLean kills. The set remained close through the middle portions with Wofford holding the Royals slightly at bay with an 18-15 lead late in the frame. Bri Mahoney put forth a kill to spark the Terriers, who went on a seven-point run to close out the set. That run saw two more MacLean kills, including the clincher, 25-15.
 
Opening the third set, Mad Wilson and Emily Normand received starting nods to make their season debuts, and Anna Adcock joined them to make her collegiate debut. The freshman opened her career with authority, swatting a block to cap her very first rally. The third set was a tight battle in the early portions with the Royals leading 17-14 before Wilson recorded a kill to spark a score-swinging run. Bradley Brown tallied back-to-back kills before Maddy Frazier notched an ace. Ella Schomer put forth two-straight kills of her own in her season debut to precede another Frazier ace. A Morgan kill capped an eight-point swing to lift Wofford ahead 22-17. The Terriers held firm from there with Schomer notching the clincher for a 25-21 set three win and match sweep over the Royals.
 
Match Two
After a break for a pair of neutral matches, the Terriers returned to the court in the nightcap to dispatch the Fighting Camels with authority, not allowing Campbell to score more than 16 points in a set. Wofford led every statistical category in the contest, topping Campbell in kills (45-23), aces (4-3), blocks (7-2), assists (40-22) and digs (51-32).
 
Efficiency proved to be the key to the match on both ends of the spectrum. The Terrier defense was firm, holding the Fighting Camels to a .061 hitting clip. Campbell committed 24 combined attack and service errors. On the opposite end, Wofford was guilty of just 13 such errors and hit .427 in the match, the first time hitting over .400 as a squad since 2022 when the Terriers clubbed .423 against South Carolina State. Tonight's hitting clip is the ninth-best mark in a match in program history.
 
"Overall, everybody was just disciplined and did their job," said Bri Mahoney of the team's offensive efforts. "We had great defense all around, great serve receive – I mean it was team effort. The setters put the ball where we needed it, and we all executed how we wanted to."
 
Bri Mahoney (12) and Bradley Brown (10) led the offense as a duo with double-digit kills. Brown hit a staggering .909 in the contest with her 10 kills coming on 11 swings. Mahoney was also efficient with a .455 mark that saw just two errors on 22 attempts.
 
"It was really electric to feel the environment of being at home, and the team had a really big part of it," said Brown of her career performance in a home debut. "The setters really did their jobs, put it where they needed to, and all of the hitters did their jobs as well with pulling different blockers to where we were all one-on-one. The defense in and of itself was really good. We got a bunch of block touches, so it was really easy to set us up for success."
 
Brown added five blocks to hold down the net. Laney Klika sent home a career-high three aces with Taylor Pecht contributing one.
 
Pecht led the offensive explosion with 21 assists, and Maddy Frazier posted 17 of her own. Defensively, Klika recorded 28 digs, which are second most in a three-set match in program history. She was just two short of the record, which was Taylor Gill's 30 at ETSU in 2017.
 
Wofford raced out to an early 13-3 lead thanks to a six-point run that saw Bradley Brown post two blocks and a kill. Campbell made a push in the middle to pull within 17-8, but the Terriers would hold the Fighting Camels off by claiming six of the final seven points in the set. Mary Emily Morgan's kill led into a pair of Campbell errors to close the set at 25-11.
 
The Terriers again found a rhythm early in the second set with four-straight points to lead 6-2, highlighted by a Laney Klika ace. The Fighting Camels clawed back to within 13-10 before Wofford recorded a four-point swing. A service error provided a point to Campbell, but undeterred, the Terriers tallied the next four points with Sarah MacLean notching kills on the latter two points. Campbell tallied a kill, but Mary Emily Morgan added one before Bradley Brown notched two for set point. The Fighting Camels then claimed four-straight points, but it was all for naught as Morgan put home the clincher at 25-16.
 
Set three opened with the squads trading blows as Campbell attempted to stay alive in the contest. But a service error pushed the momentum back to Wofford, and this time the Terriers embarked on a six-point run, highlighted by a pair of kills by MacLean. Leading 18-11, the Terriers held control of the set and would not relinquish it. Another six-point swing brought about match point after a Brown block. After a Wofford service error, Brown closed the contest with a kill to secure another sweep on the day.
 
Wofford will close out the tournament tomorrow afternoon with a tilt against Presbyterian. The Blue Hose lost a pair of five-set contests today in the two matches between Wofford's bouts. Tomorrow's contest is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.