PETERSBURG, Va. – The Bloomsburg volleyball team picked up a pair of victories at the VSU Opening Weekend Invitational, sweeping Virginia State and taking down Bowie State on Saturday.
 
Bloomsburg (2-2) tallied 83 kills and 30 aces on the day. Five of those aces came from Allison Saalfrank (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge), who now hold the program-record in career aces with 106. 

Emily Gustie (Crofton, Md./Crofton) led the Huskies with 20 kills on the day while Jordan Pryor (Middletown, Md./Middletown) followed closely behind with 18. Pryor posted nine aces across the two games, including seven against Bowie State.
 
Game 1 – Bloomsburg 3, Virginia State 0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-12)
 
The Huskies fell behind early in the first set as Virginia State (0-3) jumped ahead 7-2 early on. A back-and-forth exchange moved the score to 11-6 before Bloomsburg grabbed the momentum on a 10-3 run the gave the maroon and gold a 16-14 lead. The run saw Gustie and Pryor each record a pair of kills while Gustie notched back-to-back aces to tie the game. The Huskies kept the Trojans at bay to hold on for the 25-23 set win.
 
After falling behind 2-0 early in the second set, Bloomsburg went on a 9-2 run to gain the early momentum. The highlight of the run was a service ace from Saalfrank to break the program record with her first ace of the day.
 
Virginia State pulled within two before the Huskies extended its lead even further on an 11-2 run. A kill from Gustie closed out the second set, 25-14.
 
Bloomsburg dominated the early goings of the third set, posting a 9-2 run to start the frame. After a quick back-and-forth, a seven-point swing from the maroon and gold moved the advantage to a staggering 19-5. Despite a last gasp effort from VSU, the Huskies closed out the final set 25-12 to complete the sweep.
 
Pryor and Gustie each finished the game with eight kills while Gustie led the team in aces with five. As a team the Huskies tallied 15 aces and 33 kills.
 
Game 2 – Bloomsburg 3, Bowie State 1 (25-19, 25-20, 26-24, 25-18)
 
The second game of the day saw Bloomsburg fall behind 7-3 early on to Bowie State. A 10-1 run that saw four aces from Pryor flipped the energy in the Huskies favor as they took a 13-8 lead. The Bulldogs closed the gap to just one point at 17-16, but the maroon and gold surged back ahead and took the opening set, 25-19.
 
The second set saw much closer action in the early moments as Bowie State took a 6-5 lead. A kill from Pryor kicked off a 9-2 run that put the maroon and gold ahead, 14-8. The Bulldogs slowly chipped away at the Huskies' advantage before a quick four-point outburst gave Bloomsburg a comfortable points cushion to close out the second set, 25-20.
 
Bowie State and Bloomsburg went point-for-point at the start of the third before a 7-1 run from the Bulldogs saw the Huskies down, 17-10. A steady stream of offense closed the gap all the way to a 24-24 tie before a pair of errors allowed Bowie State to avoid getting swept.
 
Bloomsburg responded with three-straight points to start the fourth set with a kill from Katie Kuehl (Aston, Pa./Archmere Academy (Del.)) and an ace from Erin Clark (Gilbert, Ariz./Gilbert). The Bulldogs tied the game at five before six-straight from the Huskies moved the score to 11-5. Bowie State managed to narrow the gap several times throughout the set, but the Huskies stayed resilient and continued to pull ahead two late aces from Pryor helped set the stage for Marlee Johnson (Newville, Pa./Big Spring) who closed out the game with her sixth kill of the match.
 
Gustie lead the team in kills with 12 while Pryor fell one ace short of tying the program record in single-game aces.
 
Bloomsburg returns to action on Friday, September 12 as they travel to Canton, Ohio for the Malone Invitational.