The Salem volleyball girls picked up their first win of the season when the Spartans beat E.C. Glass at home Monday night.

Salem won in three sets, 25-22, 25-15 and 26-24. “Our passing was the best it has been so far this season, but we struggled with consistency over the course of the match,” said Salem coach Amanda Hristov. “The second set was definitely our strongest of the night, we found our rhythm with serving and our offensive game. Our solid passing in that set also allowed us run our quicker offense.” Up two games to none, Glass battled back to lead much of the third set before Salem finished strong. Telia Harris served out the match to end it in three.

“We got strong leadership from our seniors to help us power through our first win,” said Hristov. Harris led Salem with 11 kills, three aces, four blocks and six digs. Janae Blakeney had 10 kills with three aces, Haley Steffan had 28 assists and Kinsey Ebel had 14 digs. Last Thursday Salem played host to 2017 state Class 3 champion Lord Botetourt and the Cavaliers won their 34th consecutive match by a score of 25-17, 25-12 and 25-19. “LB only lost one starter from their state championship team to graduation,” said Hristov. “We played them with good energy, communication and drive, but some mental mistakes and errors at inopportune times made it hard to overcome their hard hitting offense. We hung with them and put up a good fight, but needed to play mistake free to come away with a win, which we just weren’t able to do.” Harris again had 11 kills while Blakeney had nine. Steffan had 25 assists and three kills for Salem.

On Tuesday night the Spartans evened their record at 2-2 with a three set win over Alleghany, 25-19, 25-20 and 25-14. Harris continued to play well with 14 kills, seven digs and four blocks. Brooke Baxley had 17 digs, Maddi Hall had six kills and 11 digs and Blakeney had seven kills and 14 digs. Steffan had 28 assists. Salem is back in action tonight with a match in Lynchburg against Liberty Christian Academy, their first road trip of the young season. The Spartans lost their season opener to the Bulldogs in Salem last week and will try to get revenge at a tough place to play. “It’s a tough environment to play in,” said Hristov. “They always get a big crowd and it gets loud. It’s a tough place to win, but if we limit our mistakes we can do it.”