MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's volleyball team soared to a 3-0 victory over Valdosta State University to open the 2022 campaign.

Saint Anselm grabs its second consecutive season-opening win in straight sets, this time by 25-19, 25-13, and 25-17 set scores over the Blazers.

Freshman Ava Kidd (Walton, Ky.) made her collegiate debut in the contest and led the Hawks offense with 10 kills. Kidd's .833 hitting percentage stands as one of the strongest performances by a first-year student-athlete in recent memory. Senior Lauren Casey (Jefferson City, Mo.) added nine kills for the offense on a team-high 31 swings. Seven Hawks registered at least one kill in the contest.

Senior co-captain Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) registered 32 assists which brings her career total to 2,086. She now sits in fifth-place in all-time assists, surpassing Robin Hinchey '02. Senior Caroline Belmontez (San Diego, Calif.) and junior Kaitlin Brown (Glendale, Ariz.) registered 15 and 10 digs each for the Hawks defense.

After dropping the opening point of the first set, the Hawks rattled off nine-consecutive points to take a 9-1 edge in the first frame. After trading of points, Saint Anselm posted three straight points on the back of kills by sophomore Gabby Belcher (Buckeye, Ariz.) and Brown, coming before a Blazers attack error. Following the run, Valdosta scored seven of the next eight points to cut the Hawks lead to 17-13. However, the teams would swap points down the stretch with Saint Anselm grabbing a 25-19 win.

As the teams battled closely to open the second stanza, Saint Anselm tallied nine of 11 points to force a timeout from the Blazers at 15-7 in the set. Four of the points during that stretch came on kills by Casey. The Hawks continued to score in bunches closing out the match on a pair of errors by the Blazers to push the match, two sets to none in favor of the hosts.

Set three opened the same as set two with three consecutive points for Saint Anselm and again the Blazers kept the match close, pushing the score to 6-4 following a kill by Ava Young. The Hawks once again rallied with seven of the next eight points to extend the lead to 14-5. Three consecutive points on a kill by Kidd, a kill from junior Audrey Wetjen (Henderson, Nev.) and a Valdosta error pushed the Hawks lead to eight at 19-11. The teams traded points down the stretch to close the match with a 25-17 set three score and a 3-0 win for the Hawks.

Freshman Skylar Ryan (Channahon, Ill.) also made her collegiate debut in the match.