>OPPONENTS (Week of Sept. 22-28) 
Salem at Brevard | September 24 | 6 p.m.
Salem at Mary Baldwin | September 28 | 2 p.m.

>SPIRITS FACE USA SOUTH CONFERENCE PAIR ON ROAD
The Salem volleyball team takes its three-match winning streak to Brevard on Tuesday evening. The match will put the Spirits in a tough environment, Boshamer Gym, before Salem will head to Staunton, Va., to face Mary Baldwin on Saturday at 12 p.m. 

>RECAPPING SALEM'S HOME STAND
The Spirits hosted their first match of the season on Thursday and emerged with a five-set win over Greensboro. Salem followed that up by hosting a pair of matches against Pfeiffer, claiming a pair of three-set wins in the process. 

vs. Greensboro | Sept. 19: The junior trio of Aspen Bradley, Bella Mann and McKenzie Tullock helped the Salem volleyball team snap a seven-match losing streak to USA South Conference foe Greensboro College on Thursday evening as the Spirits emerged in a five-set thriller at Varsity Gym by scores of 17-25, 25-23, 25-19, 12-25, 15-10.

The five-set triumph moves the Spirits to 7-1 in five-set affairs since November 1, 2022. The only setback came in the first match this season against Lynchburg. The last time that Salem dropped a five-set match at Varsity Gym was on October 22, 2022 against William Peace. 

Salem took down The Pride for the first time since October 26, 2019 and the first time at home since October 5, 2019. The Spirits were sparked offensively by the trio of Bradley and Mann, who finished with 16 and 15 kills, respectively, along with the contributions of first-year Maia Johnson, who tallied 10 kills. Leah Rymer quarterbacked the offense attack, which tallied 61 kills and a .246 attack percentage, with 31 assists. 

Bradley was one of three players on offense to finish with at least a .300 attack percentage and making 15 attacks. The junior right side hitter finished with a .455 attack percentage, while Anna Rymer closed at .421, Mann with a .375 attack percentage and Johnson at .308.

Rymer was also active on defense with 14 digs, notching her third double-double of the slate. Tullock was tops among back row defenders with 21 digs of her own, establishing a career-high in the process. Oliva Torres also made her impact felt on the back row with 10 assists. The Spirits also took advantage of six assisted blocks, including three from senior Anna Rymer.

vs. Ferrum | Sept. 20 | First Match: The Spirits used their defensive prowess, which included 15 digs from Leah Rymer, and an all-around offensive attack, which resulted in 44 kills and a .223 attack percentage, to capture the first match of the day against Pfeiffer. 

Johnson led all Salem hitters with 11 kills, finishing with a .529 attack percentage in 17 total attacks, while Scherer closed with eight kills and a .316 attack percentage. Leah Rymer was responsible for 20 assists for Salem, while Grace Royer added 12 of her own. 

vs. Ferrum | Sept. 20 | Second Match: Salem was a more efficient offense in the second match, posting 45 kills and a .347 attack percentage, highlighted by Bradley's 13 kills and .545 attack percentage. Johnson delivered eight kills, while Anna Rymer and Scherer contributed seven apiece. Leah Rymer quarterbacked the offense with 25 assists, while Royer added eight in reserve. 

McKenzie Tullock anchored the back row with 10 digs, while Makailey Albright came through with a solid performance that included six digs, one kill and one assist on the match.

>JOHNSON EARNS SECOND USA SOUTH ROOKIE OF THE WEEK IN SEPTEMBER
Salem volleyball first-year Maia Johnson earned her second USA South Rookie of the Week honor in September in an announcement from the conference office on Monday. 

Johnson becomes the first Salem volleyball player to capture two USA South Rookie of the Week honors in the same season. She is the only volleyball player, other than Zy Henderson, to earn multiple player of the week honors for the program. Henderson accomplished that feat when Salem was a member of the Great South Athletic Conference. 

Johnson was an instrumental part of the Spirits' 3-1 record last week, which included a five-game victory over Greensboro and a pair of sweeps against Pfeiffer in back-to-back days. 

The first year middle blocker delivered 38 kills and a .321 attack percentage, after making 78 total attacks as Salem began conference play against Methodist (Sept. 17), Greensboro (Sept. 19) and Pfeiffer (Sept. 20). 

Johnson began her week with nine kills in 18 total attacks, posting a .278 attack percentage along the way, in a clash with Methodist. She was also effective on the front row with five total blocks, including a single-match season-high four assisted blocks. 

Two nights later, in the 2024 home opener against Greensboro, Johnson and her teammates snapped a seven-match losing streak to their intercity league rivals. Along the way, Salem moved to 7-1 in five-set matches. Johnson was one of three players in double-digit kills, finishing with 10, and finished with a .308 attack percentage in 26 attempts. She also contributed two digs along the way. 

The following afternoon, in a doubleheader against Pfeiffer, the Mineral Wells, W.Va., native drove home eight kills in a three-set league win over the Falcons. She followed that with 11 kills, marking her sixth double-digit kill outing of the season, in a sweep of Pfeiffer as the two faced each other in a non-conference clash. 

Johnson was the most efficient hitter in the Salem lineup in the second match, posting a .529 attack percentage in 17 attempts. She also made her presence felt defensively with one solo and one assisted block. 

>BRADLEY REGAINING HER FIRST YEAR FORM
Oregon native Aspen Bradley has regained her first year form as she leads the team in kills (137), kills/set (2.91) and total attacks (319) this season. Bradley, who has the second-most single-season kills in program history (351), is the third-most efficient hitter for the Spirits this season. 

Bradley, who has had double-digit kill outings in 10 of 12 matches for Salem this season, has 13 more kills than teammate Maia Johnson (124) and 14 more than Anna Rymer (123). Isabella Mann needs just 10 kills to join the trio with at least 100 kills this season.

>TULLOCK EMERGING AMONG DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Another junior that has made her presence felt for the Spirits this season is McKenzie Tullock. Tullock has competed in seven matches through the first 12 for Salem in 2024. She has emerged with double-digit dig performances in five outings, all resulting in Salem wins. 

Her best single-match performance of the season, which is coincidentially the best single-match performance of her career, resulted in 22 digs. 

As a result of her five double-digit dig outings, Tullock is one of five Spirits with 100 digs. Ella Brameus tops the lineup with 118, while Jolina Bun (107), Leah Rymer (106), Olivia Torres (101) and Tullock round out the Top-5. 

>ANNA RYMER BLOCKING THE OPPOSITION
One of the unsung defenders this season for the Spirits through the first 12 matches has been senior middle blocker Anna Rymer. 

Rymer, who has 31 blocks on the slate, has amassed 23 assisted blocks in 2024. Rymer has come through with 75 (2022) and 74 (2023) total blocks in each of her first two seasons. She needs just 19 more total blocks to join Kathryn O'Connell as the only Salem player with at least 50 blocks in three seasons. 

>SCOUTING REPORT—BREVARD
Brevard sits in a three-way tie for first place in the USA South Conference standings with a 2-0 mark, which has come by virtue of an eight-match winning streak. The Tornados are one of three units in the league, along with William Peace and Methodist, with at least 10 wins. 

The Tornados have claimed six five-set wins through their first 12 matches, including three in a row against Lancaster Bible, Bob Jones and Clinton. The two wins for Brevard have come against N.C. Wesleyan and Southern Virginia, both on Sept. 21. 

The top offensive performers for Brevard through 12 matches are Makenna Perkins (114), Casey Wampler (107) and Ashley Hoxit (106), all of whom have topped the century mark in kills. Bailey Lance leads the way in digs with 220, while Jaxson Tumicki has made 21 blocks, including 10 solo blocks. 

>SCOUTING REPORT—MARY BALDWIN
The Fighting Squirrels will host two matches this week, opening the slate with a clash against Southern Virginia (Sept. 24) before facing Salem on Saturday afternoon.

Mary Baldwin (2-7) claimed its first win of the season against Wilson at the Shenandoah Invitational on September 7th before claiming a 3-0 victory over Trinity Washington on September 19th. 

The trio of Brooklynn Prince, Delaney Bolbach and Kennedy Mills lead the way in kills, combining for 134 as a unit. Meanwhile, Alexa Ammerman has 96 digs and Sabrina Birts (11 blocks) are the top defensive individual performers.