By: Adam Purvis ~Guest Writer~

Coming back home to host the third invitational of its season, the Xavier’s women’s volleyball
team hosted the Millennium Hotel Invitational, which brought Ohio, Syracuse and Ohio State to Cincinnati last weekend.

Its first game on Sept. 12 was against the Ohio Bobcats, with a tough loss 3-0 to begin the invitational.

The first set was close, with one team leading by no more than three points until they tied at 12. Ohio gained the lead and won the set 25-22, even with seven kills from the Muskies.

Responding with four unanswered points in the second setafter a service ace, the Musketeers could not hold the lead during this close set. However, eight team errors hurt Xavier with the Bobcats taking the last set 25-23.

For its next game, Xavier came ready to play against Syracuse on Sept. 13, sweeping
Syracuse 3-0 with its first win of this invitational and gave Syracuse their first 3-0 loss of the
season.

In the first set, the Musketeers spearheaded forward at 22-17. Syracuse retaliated 4-1 and with two errors from the Musketeers brought the score 24-23. Following a service error from Syracuse, Xavier took its first set on the day.

Coming back strong in the second set, the Muskies pulled away with seven points to make the score 9-2 in the beginning. Syracuse brought itself back within three points of Xavier
before Xavier called a timeout.
Syracuse could not come back afterwards, with Xavier sophomore Abbey Bessler serving a six-point run. Xavier came out on top of this set with a final score of 25-16 against Syracuse.
Without letting up, Xavier claimed the final set of this match 25-12 against the Orange, keeping Syracuse from making more than a three-point lead and taking two five-point service runs with senior Sariah Suryadevara and senior Aubree Smith serving.      

The team’s final game of the invitational was a tight match against Ohio State. Ohio State claimed victory 3-2 to finish up the invitational for the Musketeers. Down 8-2, Xavier exploded on a 16-6 run with Smith having another five-point service run.

This lead to the Muskies taking the lead 12-11 and keeping it until the final score of 25-17 this set. Down early in set two, Xavier pulled off a four-point run that kept it within striking distance of the Buckeyes for the rest of the second set. Even with multiple ties in this set, the Buckeyes took the set 25-21. After each team took one of the first two sets, the lead of the third set flipped four times early on with eight ties.

After a tie at 11, OSU won the set with a score of 25-19. With another tough set for
both teams, Xavier claimed the fourth set 26-24 after an error by the Buckeyes and a tie at 24.
OSU took the final set of the match 15-11. The Musketeers are now 6-3 for the season following the weekend tournament and look to continue winning as the season moves forward.