CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The defending TCCAA and NJCAA Region VII volleyball champion Walters State Lady Senators sent an early message to the league that the title will be hard to pry away from them this season by sweeping Cleveland State Tuesday night in straight sets on the road inside L. Quentin Lane Gymnasium.

The Lady Cougars made Walters State work for Tuesday's win however, but the Lady Senators prevailed by scores of 25-21, 25-13 and 25-22 to move above .500 for the first time this season.

With the win, Walters State now stands at 4-3 overall and 1-0 in region action. The loss dropped the Lady Cougars to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in league play.

The Lady Senators battled through a close first game, leading by no more than four points the entire way but never trailing as well, taking a 25-21 victory. The second game was close early on until WSCC went on a scoring streak and led by as many as a dozen midway through before taking a 25-13 victory.

Cleveland State did not lead at any point in the match until taking a 16-15 advantage in the third frame, its only lead of the night. Walters State responded quickly and reclaimed the lead before securing a 25-22 win to end the match in three games.

Micayla Vallie paced WSCC with 11 kills and 17 digs in the match, while Kaley Muncy added seven kills and McKenzie Jenkins had five kills in the victory. Courtney Dotson dished out 20 assists and notched 14 digs, while Sydney Hurd had 11 assists and 16 digs, Lexi Wakefield added 15 digs and Hayley Wolfe recorded 13 digs in the match. Jenkins added four blocks and Jayla Rolle had two blocks, while Dotson and Hurd both served up a pair of aces in the win.

Walters State will be back in action this weekend with a four-game tournament at Wake Technical College. The Lady Senators will face Richard Bland College and Spartanburg Methodist on Friday before taking on host Wake Technical and Johnson & Wales on Saturday