JOPLIN, Mo. – The Cameron University volleyball team opened up their 2019 season with a split of a pair of matches against Wayne State and CSU-Pueblo on Friday at the Missouri Southern Invitational.

After a 3-0 loss to WSC in the first match of the day, CU bounced back for a 3-1 win over the Thunderwolves for head coach Brandon Stephenson's first Division II victory.

The Aggies had a promising first set of the season against the Wildcats. After getting down by five, early on, CU used a kill by Sarah Wright to kick-start a run that got them to within one point of their opponent. After going back and forth, they found themselves down three at 20-17.

Cameron then went on a 5-1 fueled by a pair of kills from Shantalle Demirjian and a service ace by Katherine Manning. The final point came from a kill by freshman Riana Blount that gave CU their first lead of the set at 22-21. WSC took back the lead with a pair of scores, but another Demirjian kill tied it back up at 23. Two plays later, Blount answered another Wildcat kill with one of her own to set the score at 24-all. Back-to-back kills from Wayne State ended the set 26-24.

In the first set CU hit .265 with 11 kills, but totaled just 12 kills the rest of the match, hitting .032 in set two and -.107 in the third. WSC's eight service aces, 48 kills, and .388 attack percentage led to them winning 25-10 and 25-11 in the final two sets to take the match.

Demirjian finished with seven kills and a pair of blocks to lead the team with 8.5 points. Arianna Navarrete and Caitlyn Henderson added four kills each, while Blount had a team-high three blocks to go with her three kills. Katherine Manning had 14 assists and four digs, and libero Peyton Little led the squad with 10 digs.

Against the Thunderwolves, CU got their first set win of the season out of the way in the first. The Black and Gold opened the match up with a 6-1 run and then built up their lead 22-15. CSU-Pueblo came back to get to within two at 23-21, but CU was able to claim the set with a kill from Navarrete and a CSU attack error.

After hitting over .260 with 10 kills in the first set, the Aggies hit just .032 in the second as the Thunderwolves tied the match with a 25-13 win.

CSU-Pueblo held the advantage through most of the third, building up a 21-15 lead. The Aggies then went on a 7-1 run to tie the match at 22. Opponent errors aided the CU comeback and kills from Navarrete and Blount closed out the 26-24 win.

After trading runs to open the fourth set, CSU-P jumped out to a 17-12 lead thanks to a pair of service aces by Grace Hern. Cameron answered by going on a 9-4 run to tie the set at 21 points apiece before the Thunderwolves called their second timeout of the frame. A pair of CSU-P errors and a kill from Wright got CU to game point at 24-21. A kill and an ace got CU's opponent back to within one, but Wright's 12th kill of the match sealed the win.

Wright had a team-high 12 kills to go along with a .313 attack percentage. She also added nine digs and a pair of blocks. The freshman Navarrete recorded her first collegiate double-double with 11 kills, 15 digs, and had a CU-high three service aces. Additionally, Little recorded 22 digs, Manning had 27 assists, and Henderson had a game-high five total blocks.

Cameron, now 1-1 to start the season, will continue the invitational on Saturday as they face the host team Missouri Southern at 1 p.m. and Black Hills State at 5 p.m.