ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop volleyball team fought through a scrappy, athletic Bethune-Cookman squad Friday night taking a 3-0 victory over the Wildcats on the first day of the Winthrop Invitational.

Winthrop improved to 8-3 overall and remained unbeaten inside the Winthrop Coliseum while Bethune-Cookman fell to 1-11.

"We struggled to stay in our system and control what we needed to control," head coach Bruce Atkinson said.  "We were fortunate to come away with a win tonight."

The Eagles started strong in the first set, jumping out to an 8-5 advantage only to see the Wildcats go on a 4-0 run to grab a 9-8 lead.  Bethune-Cookman continued to lead 15-12 before Winthrop went on a 10-3 run to take a 22-18 lead.  The Wildcats slowed the Eagle attack only for a brief moment before Winthrop took the first set 25-21.

Winthrop took early control of the second set, taking a 5-1 lead, forcing the Wildcats into a timeout.  The Eagles continued the offensive pressure, increasing their lead to six at 9-3, sending Bethune-Cookman into another timeout.  After the second break the Wildcats slowly started cutting into the Winthrop advantage.  Bethune-Cookman eventually got within three at 23-20, but it was too late to finish off the run as the Eagles took the second set 25-21.

The beginning of the third set went the way of the Wildcats as Bethune-Cookman took an early 9-3 lead, forcing Winthrop to take a timeout.  Out of the timeout the Eagles went on a 5-0 run to get within 9-8.  The Wildcats kept the Eagles at bay and retook a four-point edge at 16-12.  Winthrop battled back multiple times to get within one, but it wasn't until 19-19 that they tied the set for the first time.  Bethune-Cookman went back up 21-19 before the Eagles went on a 3-0 run to take their first lead of the set at 22-21, forcing the Wildcats to take a timeout.  The Wildcats tied the set again at 21-21 but two big kills by Irene Ojukwu gave the Eagles their momentum to take third set 25-22. 

Alina Sopizhuk led the Eagles with a14 kills and finished with a .423 hitting percentage after hitting over .700 going into the final set.  Irene Ojuwku also hit double-digit kills with 12.  Jessie Vicic recorded a double-double with 33 assists and 10 digs while Maria Volstad led the Eagles with 12 digs.

"Alina was hitting very well, but our serve-receive got worse in the third set which took her out of her groove," Atkinson said.

The Eagles return on Saturday in the second day of the Winthrop Invitational to take on UNC-Wilmington at 12:30 p.m. and The Citadel at 7 p.m.