WINCHESTER, Va.--The Hood College volleyball team opened the 2007 season with an impressive showing at the Shenandoah University triangular Saturday. Hood (1-1) used spectacular serving in the first match against Trinity to earn a 3-0 sweep (30-14, 30-15, 30-17) before falling in five sets (30-21, 28-30, 28-30, 30-25, 10-15) to the host Hornets.

In the opener against their old rivals from the Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference, the Blazers racked up a whopping 33 service aces en route to the decisive victory over Trinity. Junior Jamie Gardner served up 11 aces, while freshman Kristan Hawkins registered eight more. Senior Lindsey Nagy and freshman Chelsea Weaver each had four aces, followed by freshman Kristina Straub with three, senior Caroline Woodhams with two and senior Ashley Bryan with one. Nagy also put down seven kills and had five digs, while Bussey led the defense with eight digs and Woodhams finished with nine assists and a pair of kills.

In the second match against Shenandoah, the Blazers captured the first game but dropped narrow decisions in the following two. Hood fought back to tie the match at two games apiece by winning game four, 30-25, forcing a decisive fifth game. But it was the Hornets who had the final say, pulling out the 15-10 triumph in the fifth set.

Woodhams and Straub each notched double-doubles in assists and digs. Woodhams tallied 33 assists and 12 digs to go along with six aces and five kills, while Straub registered 17 assists and a team-best 13 digs. Nagy led the offense with 22 kills while classmate Ashley Bryan smacked down 12. Nagy moved into fifth place all-time on Hood's career kills list (605). She is five away from tying Jennifer Jones '06 for fourth place. Gardner had a stellar hitting effort, finishing with eight kills and no errors for a .571 hitting percentage.

Hood makes its home debut Wednesday against Frostburg State University at 7 p.m. at Gambrill Gymnasium.