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By: Stephen Williams

COLUMBUS – Opening up the season in style, the Columbus State University women's volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 (25-18, 26-24, 25-20) victory over Mars Hill on Friday night. The match was part of the Hughston Clinic Invite played inside the Lumpkin Center.
 
Mary McCarty led the way for Columbus State (1-0) with nine kills on the night. Kylie Beaubien added eight, while Andrea Skipor added seven. Abby King registered a double-double in her first game of the year with 28 assists and 13 digs. Caytlin Merritt picked up 10 digs of her own.
 
"This was a great way to start the season," head coach Casey Cornett said. "We did a lot of things well tonight and we need to continue to improve with two more matches tomorrow."
 
After falling behind 9-5 in the opening set, the Lady Cougars flipped the switch with an 8-1 run to surge into the lead. McCarty keyed the run with back-to-back kills. Holding onto a two-point lead (16-14), CSU began to pull away behind a closing run of 9-4 to wrap up the first set.
 
It was all Columbus State to start the second, as the Lady Cougars tallied the first five points behind the serve of King. The lead grew to 10-2 before Mars Hill (0-1) clawed its way back. The Lions rallied to get within two at 15-13 before four straight points stretched the lead back to six.
 
MHU then reeled off 10 of the next 11 points to take a 23-20 advantage late in the set. The Lady Cougars would respond though. Three straight points tied the set, but the Lions got back on the board and held a set point. Again, the Lady Cougars bounced back as Skipor tied the set at 24 and a MHU miscue set up King for the final kill to get CSU one set away from victory.
 
The final set went back-and-forth in the early stages as the two sides sat tied at 12. McCarty keyed another CSU burst as the Lady Cougars took the lead with a 5-1 run.
 
Mars Hill would get to within two on three separate occasions down the stretch, but no closer as McCarty registered another kill to give the Lady Cougars a clean sweep.
 
Columbus State returns to action on Saturday with the second day of the Hughston Clinic Invite. The Lady Cougars take on Converse at 12:30 p.m. and wrap up the day with a 4:30 p.m. match against Emmanuel.