San Marcos, CA – The Hope International women's volleyball team continued their season today at the USK Labor Day tourney as they dropped the first game before notching their first win of the season on Friday afternoon in San Marcos, CA.

Game 1:
The Royals seized the momentum early on as they raced out to leads of 8-2 and 10-4 in the first set before going on to lead 18-13 late in the set thanks to great performances from Carissa Wiles and Cassidy Koffroth. La Sierra battled back though as they went on a 6-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 19-18. From their the Royals retook the lead at 23-20 but they couldn't hold them off as they dropped the first set 28-26. The second set was a back and forth affair as the Royals and La Sierra both held leads but ultimately the Royals dropped the second set 25-23. The Royals tried to fight back in the third set as Wiles gave the Royals a late 20-19 lead but ultimately the Royals fell 25-23 and lost the game 3-0. Koffroth led the Royals with 13 kills while Stacey Dawes recorded 21 assists.

Game 2:
In their second game of the day the Royals faced off against the University of Michigan-Dearborn Wolverines as they looked for their first win of the season. Things started off slow as the Royals trailed 18-14 and 20-15 late in the first set but they regrouped with a 6-0 run led by two kills from Wiles to take a 21-20 lead. From there it was Wiles again who helped them build a 24-21 lead as they went on to take the first set 27-25 and take a 1-0 lead. The Wolverines responded by taking the set 25-19 to even the game at 1-1. The Royals seized the momentum back in the third set as they took an 18-13, but the Wolverines would battle back to within one point on two occasions. The Royals held strong though as Koffroth came with several big kills to build the Royals lead back to 22-18 as they went on to win 25-21 and take a 2-1 lead. The fourth set was a back and forth affair early on before the Royals jumped out to a 14-11 lead with Koffroth recording two kills. The wolverines though battled back to tie the game at 17-17 before taking a 22-20 lead. Three straight kills though by Koffroth helped the Royals retake the lead at 24-23. The Wolverines would then tie it before Koffroth recorded another kill followed by an attack error by the Wolverines giving the Royals their first win of the year as took the final set 26-24 and the game 3-1. Koffroth led the Royals with 21 kills while Jacqueline Foster recorded 33 assists.

The Royals will return to action tomorrow at the USK Labor Tourney as they take on Marian University at 10:00 AM before wrapping up the tournament against the University of Saint Katherine at 4:00 PM in San Marcos, CA.