ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop volleyball team tallied a season-high 13 blocks Saturday as the Eagles defeated Charleston Southern 3-0, picking up their first conference victory of the season.

Winthrop improved to 10-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference while Charleston Southern fell to 5-11 overall and 0-2 in the Big South.

Sophomore Rachel Lenz recorded a new career high in total blocks with nine to go along with eight kills.  Alina Sopizhuk led all hitters with 13 kills while Irene Ojukwu finished with 12.  Jessie Vicic finished with 37 assists.

In the first set the Eagles took the early 7-4 lead only to see Charleston Southern go on a 10-4 run to take a 14-11 edge.  Winthrop then took the next five points, four of them coming off the block.  The Eagles used a 10-1 run to open a 21-15 lead en route to winning the first set 25-17.

Winthrop had to fight a little harder to pick up the second-set victory.  The Buccaneers grabbed the early lead 7-5.  The Eagles took their first lead of the set at 10-9 and then didn't allow Charleston Southern to regain an edge.  Winthrop led by as much as six at 22-16 before the Buccaneers cut the lead down to 22-19, forcing Winthrop into a timeout.  Out of the break the Eagles finished off the set 3-1 to win 25-20.

After going down 6-2 early in the third set, Winthrop went on a 12-3 run to open a 14-9 advantage.  The Eagles were able to cruise from there and take the third set 25-18 and the match 3-0.

The Eagles will now embark on a six-match road swing, starting with a non-conference contest against the Davidson Wildcats Tuesday at 7 p.m.