CLARION, Penn. – The Saginaw Valley State University volleyball team continued play at the Tony Banner Memorial Tournament against Ursuline College Saturday in Clarion, Penn.

After dropping the first set, SVSU rallied to take control with a second straight four-set win to open the 2021 season. The win moves the Cardinals to 2-0 overall. The set scores were 23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-14.

"We started very slow and not ready to compete at a high level like we needed to," SVSU Head Coach Will Stanton said. "But we did find our energy and effort and then our execution followed as well."

Peyton Gerstacker continued her strong start to the season at the setter position, recording 42 assists in the win. Maria Vukaj led the Cardinals in kills for the second straight match with 13, adding 17 digs for a double-double and three total blocks.

Kelsey Vittitow recorded a team-high 22 digs. Madison Thompson added 10 kills for the Cardinals.

"Our outside hitters did a nice job with our offense, but our middles really dug us out our hole with some timely kills in sets two and three," Stanton said.

The Cardinals close play at the Tony Banner Memorial Tournament with two matches on Saturday, starting against the University of New Haven at 9 am followed by a matchup against the tournament host Clarion University at 3 pm.