MALIBU, CALIFORNIA – The University of Incarnate Word volleyball team started the season Friday at the Pepperdine Asics Classic. The Cardinals began the tournament by playing the host team, Pepperdine University, but lost the match in three sets. In the second match of the day, UIW took on UC-Santa Barbara, but unfortunately the outcome of the match was the same as the Cardinals lost the match in three sets.

In the first match of the day, the Cardinals (0-2) started out slow by losing the first set, 25-13.  After a kill by Autumn Lockley (Leander/Leander HS) to make the set 18-13, Pepperdine scored seven straight points to take the first set.  However, after the disappointing first set, the Cardinals battled back in the second set to make things very interesting, but ended up losing the set by two points 25-23.

Much like the first set, UIW started the third set very slow and they were not able to recover as the Waves jumped out to an early 10-4 lead.  Pepperdine took control of the set and the match winning the third set, 25-13.  Lockley played well for UIW in the match with a team high 13 kills. Leading the team in assists was senior Taylor McClelland (Cypress/Cypress Ranch HS) who had 13 for the match.

For the second match of the day, the Cardinals had a chance to get their first win of the season against the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos, but were unable to do so. The first two sets of the match were very close, but the Gauchos were able to edge past the Cardinals to go up in the match 2-0. In the third set, UC-Santa Barbara jumped out to a 19-5 lead, but the Cardinals battled back to make the set interesting as they ended by losing the set 25-14.

Angelique Vidaurri (San Antonio/Southwest HS) led the team's attack in the second match with 12 kills and Sarea Alexander (San Antonio/MacArthur HS) also had a strong match with eight kills and a team high four blocks. Leading the team in assists for the second straight match was McClelland, who dished up 15 assists.  Lockley followed up her great performance in the first match with a team high 11 digs in the second match.

The Cardinals continue the tournament on Saturday as they take on Utah Valley at 12 p.m. and try to get their first win of the young season.     
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