Opponents:
Salem vs. Roanoke | November 4 | Varsity Gym | Winston-Salem, N.C. | 12:00 p.m.
Roanoke vs. Mary Baldwin | November 4 | Varsity Gym | Winston-Salem, N.C. | 2:00 p.m.
Salem vs. Mary Baldwin | November 4 | Varsity Gym | Winston-Salem, N.C. | 4:00 p.m.

SENIOR DAY SATURDAY AT SALEM
The Salem volleyball team will be hosting its final regular season matches of the 2023 campaign on Saturday afternoon at Varsity Gym. The Spirits will host a tri-match featuring both Roanoke and Mary Baldwin. The first match of the day will pit Salem against Roanoke and prior to the start of the 12 p.m. match, the Spirits will honor seniors Valeria Rosa Lopez, Brianna Moore, Macy Nelson and Nikita Sizemore. The remaining matches will take place at 2 p.m. (Roanoke vs. Mary Baldwin) and 4 p.m. (Salem vs. Mary Baldwin).

FINAL WEEKEND OF THE REGULAR SEASON
After a victory over Southern Virginia on Wednesday evening at Varsity Gym, not only did the Spirits improve to 7-2 at home, but they moved to fifth in the USA South Conference standings. Salem sits 0.59 percentage points behind both Methodist (11-6 / .647) and from William Peace (11-6 / .647) entering the final weekend of the regular season. Those two units are ranked third and fourth in the USA South Conference standings, respectively.

The final match of the 2023 conference slate for the Spirits will come against Mary Baldwin in the 4 p.m. slot of the tri-match on Saturday, November 4th. While Salem faces the Fighting Squirrels, the schedule for the other Top-6 programs in the conference standings includes:

Friday Matches
-William Peace at Brevard

Saturday Matches
-Southern Virginia at Methodist
-Greensboro at Meredith

USA SOUTH CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Entering Weekend)

CAPPING OFF A FOUR-YEAR RUN AT SALEM
This weekend will mark the final regular season match at Varsity Gym in the careers of seniors Valeria Rosa Lopez, Brianna Moore, Macy Nelson and Nikita Sizemore. This group has combined for second-most all-time wins in program history (56), including 22 wins at Varsity Gym, and are the first in program history to lead the Spirits to consecutive 20-win seasons. They will also go down as part of the first team in USA South Conference history to record the best turnaround in program and USA South Conference history by finishing 21-10 in 2022 after posting just one win in 2021.

Lopez Career Capsule: One of three players with at least 1,000 career digs, Val is second in program history in that category with 1,315 digs. She also is looking to join Taylor Moulton and Kylie Taffer as the third player in program history, amassing 978 at this juncture of her career. Valeria has had at least 280 kills in her last three seasons, including 304 in 2021 and 317 in 2022. Last season, she and Aspen Bradley became just the second set of teammates in program history to both accrue 300 kills in the same season. Valeria has made her impact on both the Salem offense and defense with 43 double-double performances of kills and digs in the same match.

Moore Career Capsule: In four years at Salem, Brianna has played in 103 sets, handed out 487 assists (4.73 assists per set), amassed 173 digs and is responsible for 11 service aces. Brianna enters the weekend ranked seventh all-time in program assists. Her best individual match as the setter came against Ferrum in 2021, where she handed out 44 assists over five sets. She finished that season with at least 30 assists in four matches, including a pair of 40-assist outings against both Pfeiffer and N.C. Wesleyan.

Nelson Career Capsule: During her four years with Salem volleyball, Macy has been a fixture on defense, where she has amassed 737 digs (3.10 digs per set) and 19 assists. Her best statistical season came during her junior campaign, where she tallied 340 digs, which was 10th-most in program history. Macy has also eclipsed the double-digit dig mark on 39 occasions. Her best single-match performance came on October 27, 2021, where she tallied 26 digs in a five-set clash with Methodist.

Sizemore Career Capsule: Nikita leaves Salem having competed in 104 sets, where she has tallied 88 kills, 85 digs, 15 blocks and two service aces along the way. Her best statistical season came in 2021, where she tallied 66 kills and 63 digs as a sophomore. At the conclusion of that season, Nikita was recognized as a member of the USA South Sportsmanship team. In 2023, Nikita established the single-match program-high for best attack percentage, .700, in a match with seven kills in 10 attacks.

FIVE-SET THRILLER AT VARSITY GYM VERSUS SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
Salem sophomore Ashlyn Wood delivered a match point service ace that completed not only a fifth-set comeback, but also a come-from-behind victory as the Spirits earned an 18-25, 16-25, 25-20, 33-31, 15-13 thriller over USA South Conference rival Southern Virginia on Wednesday evening at Varsity Gym.

Facing a 13-10 deficit in the fifth set after a service error by Nikki Stevenson, Salem took advantage of an Anna Rymer slam and three unforced errors by the Knights to grab a 14-13 lead. Wood calmly stepped into serve, focusing her attention on Southern Virginia's Jessica Ensley, who committed the match point error, completing a three-set rally by the Spirits, who won their 20th match of the season. It marks the first time in program history that Salem has had consecutive 20-win seasons and also the first time that the Spirits have two wins in the same campaign against Southern Virginia.

Wood, who handed out a team-best 26 assists to go along with 11 digs in the match, quarterbacked a Salem unit that accounted for 54 kills and a .172 attack percentage. Among those with double-digit kills for the Spirits was Anna Rymer, who posted a team-high 14 along with a .394 attack percentage.

Teammates Aspen Bradley and Valeria Rosa Lopez added 11 kills apiece, while Abrielle Eckenroth posted 10 kills in 33 total attacks, finishing with a .273 attack percentage.

Senior Macy Nelson anchored the Salem defensive attack with 21 digs, reaching the 20-dig plateau for the third time in her collegiate career. She was joined in double figure digs by the trio of Lopez (15), Wood and Jolina Bun, who tallied 10. Meanwhile, Rymer provided four blocks (three solo) on the front row.

NELSON, WOOD LEAVE IMPRESSION ON MATCH WITH KNIGHTS
Salem's Macy Nelson and Ashlyn Wood rose to the occasion when their team needed them the most in Wednesday's clash against Southern Virginia.

After missing last weekend's tri-match in Misenheimer, N.C., which included clashes with Pfeiffer and Bob Jones, Nelson returned to the lineup and delivered a single-match season-high 21 digs in the victory over the Knights. With just seven digs in the first two sets, Nelson responded by coming through with 14 in the final three frames, including a team-best nine in the critical fourth set, which limited the Knights to a .076 hitting percentage on offense.

While Wood's biggest point of the evening came on the service ace, she also handed out 26 assists. It is the ninth time this season that Wood has handed out at least 25 assists and her fourth consecutive match with at least 20 assists. The Spirits are 8-1 in matches in which Wood dishes out at least 25 assists.

LOPEZ MAKING STRIDES FOR 1,000-KILL CLUB
Currently there are two members of the Salem volleyball 1,000-kill club—Taylor Moulton and Kylie Taffer.

However, senior outside hitter Valeria Rosa Lopez continues to make her way towards that magical 1,000-kill mark, with 978 career kills to her credit. Lopez enters her final regular season home matches needing just 22 kills to become the third member of the group.

In 29 matches this season, Lopez has tallied a team-high 317 kills (3.05 kills/set), making 875 total attempts along the way. If Lopez can notch 22 more kills and reach the 1,000-kill plateau it would not only move her into third-place on the program's all-time kills list, but it would also mark the second-most in a single season in program history. Currently, the two leaders in single-season kills in program history are Aspen Bradley (351) and Kylie Taffer (330).

The Ponce, Puerto Rico, native moved into second in career digs at Salem in a clash against Methodist on September 24th. In her third dig of the match, Lopez passed Zy Henderson for the second-most digs in program history.

Lopez and Henderson are two of three Spirits with at least 1,000 career digs, along with the program leader in the category—Taylor Moulton (1,369).

Lopez, who leads the unit in digs this season with 332, has 1,315 over the course of her Salem career. She entered the season with 983 digs to her credit, which placed her fifth in program history. Since September 1st, she has passed both Hannah Delcamp (994-4th), Mariah Sharon (998-3rd) and Henderson along the way.

BARRY RYMER ADDS TO SALEM WIN TOTAL
After enduring a 1-23 season in his first year at the helm, Salem head coach Barry Rymer became the first coach in program history to lead his team to consecutive 20-win seasons following a five-set victory over Southern Virginia.

Rymer, who is the program's all-time winningest coach, has 42 wins at Salem. One of the keys to Rymer's success at Salem has been his ability to defend the home court advantage of Varsity Gym. Rymer's units are 17-5 in the last two seasons when playing at home.

Rymer has also earned 20 of his 42 victories in three-set fashion. When competing in five-set matches, Rymer has used his expertise to earn nine all-time wins at Salem, including a perfect 4-0 in five-set matches in 2023. The Spirits have a five-match winning streak in five-set contests, which began with a triumph over Meredith in the first round of the 2022 USA South Conference Tournament on November 1, 2022.

WINNINGEST COACHES AT SALEM COLLEGE

MARY BALDWIN AND ROANOKE VISIT WINSTON-SALEM IN TRI-MATCH
Mary Baldwin (2-25, 0-17 USA South): The Fighting Squirrels enter Saturday's tri-match on an 18-match losing skid and are 1-9 in true road contests and 0-6 in neutral site matches. Mary Baldwin claimed its first win in a five-set victory against Hollins on September 5th, following with a four-set win against Wilson a week later in Chambersburg, Pa.

Hanna Roach leads all Mary Baldwin hitters with 165 kills (1.88 kills/set), while teammate Delaney Bolbach has 72 to her credit. Defensively, Jaisley Tibayan and Soleil Rios Rolon have anchored the back row with 221 and 167 digs, respectively, while Megan Andrews leads the way for the front row with 43 blocks (29 solo).

Roanoke (14-11, 7-5 ODAC): The Maroons have battled to a 14-11 record in 2023, posting a 7-5 mark in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play. Roanoke is 3-3 in its last six outings, winning three straight against Averett (3-0), Virginia University of Lynchburg (3-0) and Penn State Berks (3-0) in late October.

Salem and Roanoke clashed earlier this season at the Maroon Classic on September 8th. Valeria Rosa Lopez rebounded from a difficult opening match against Randolph to notch a match-high 12 kills in Salem's sweep of Roanoke in the night cap, marking the third win in the all-time series with the Maroons. Lopez was firing on all cylinders, posting a .385 attack percentage, while Adalyn Raney and Aspen Bradley contributed seven kills apiece. Raney again was active on defense for the Spirits with 17 digs, a match-high, while Lopez added 13. Raney also paired with Anna Rymer to finish with two assisted blocks apiece.

Ryanna Clark is one of three Roanoke hitters with at least 200 kills, topping the lineup with 234 (2.60 kills/set). Meanwhile, teammates Peyton Kirchner and Rylee Mayer have recorded 202 kills apiece on the season. Kylee Draper is the leader for the Maroons in assists (511), helping Roanoke amass 1,373 kills on the season.

Draper is also the leader in digs (217), while the front row is led by Clark, who has 86 total blocks (21 solo).