The Misericordia University women's volleyball team swept a pair of matches on the opening day of the Cougar Classic, Friday at the Anderson Center.

The Cougars defeated St. Elizabeth, 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-13) and beat St. Joe's (LI), 3-1 (24-26, 25-23, 25-16, 25-21).

Jessica Oltman led the Cougars with nine kills and Amanda Curcio added six in the opener.

Tara Welliver had four kills and four aces and Karley May had 18 assists.

Curcio had 14 kills in the nightcap while Jassmine Watson and Welliver added 12 and 11, respectively.  Oltman had seven kills and five blocks.

May had 44 assists and Kaitlin Wheeler had 23 digs, including the 1,000^th of her career.

MU jumped out to an 8-3 in the opening set against St. Elizabeth and never looked back.  Watson had back-to-back aces and a kill by Oltman capped a 5-0 run for a 19-6 lead.

Three straight attack errors by St. Elizabeth and two aces from Sarah Pool gave the Cougars a 9-2 lead in the second set.

Welliver had two aces to make it 18-6 and Curcio had two kills to close out the set.

Leading 15-12 in the third set, the Cougars scored seven straight points while holding the Eagles to just one point the rest of the way.

In the opener against St. Joseph's, the Cougars rallied from a 21-15 deficit to pull even at 24-24, but the Eagles answered with two straight points for a 26-24 win.

Down 23-21 in the second set, the Cougars for straight points for a 25-23 win.

Kills by Welliver and Watson sandwiched a pair of attack errors to clinch the victory.

MU used a 9-2 run, including two aces by Pool, to break a 4-4 tie in the third set.

Watson and Welliver combined for four kills for a 24-14 lead and Welliver closed out the 25-16 win with a kill.

MU jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the finale, but the Eagles scored eight straight points to take a 12-11 lead.

Watson's four kills keyed a 6-1 run to give MU a 19-15 advantage.

Pool sandwiched two kills around an ace by Alexa Monro to finish the 25-21 win.

The Cougars will face Wilson and Moravian, Saturday.