BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University volleyball sprinted out to a two-sets-to-none lead and held on for a 3-2 victory over visiting William & Mary on Sunday at the Holmes Center. With the 25-12, 25-21, 21-25, 21-25, 15-9 triumph, Appalachian moved to 3-1 on the young season.

The Mountaineers dominated early in the match, scoring eight-straight points during one stretch of the easy first-set victory. ASU led for the entire second set en route to grabbing the commanding 2-0 lead.

After squandering the two-set advantage, Appalachian returned to form in the fifth. ASU scored the first three points of the decisive set and, like the second, never trailed to finally put away resilient William & Mary (1-2).

The Mountaineers out-hit the Tribe .266-.194 on the match, including a commanding .250-.027 advantage in the first two sets and a .391-.111 edge in the final set.

Senior Anna Wagner led the way for ASU with a team-best 17 kills to go along with 20 digs. Wagner committed just two hitting errors in 41 attacks, good for an gaudy .366 hitting percentage.

Sophomore Jessica Eley was the Mountaineers' most efficient hitter with 10 kills and no errors in 15 attacks (.667 pct.). Senior Maggie Seeds added 15 kills and was in on three blocks, junior Courtney Rhein had a match-high-tying 26 digs and senior Kasey Sauls dished out 40 assists in the win.

Manon Murray paced William & Mary with a match-high 20 kills.

The loss to ASU capped a whirlwind weekend for William & Mary, which was scheduled to host a tournament this weekend but forced to cancel the event when its campus was evacuated due to Hurricane Irene. The Tribe scrambled to arrange a match at Presbyterian on Saturday night, which it won in four sets, before making its way to Boone for a pair of hastily arranged matches versus Kennesaw State and Appalachian on Sunday. W&M lost both of its matches in the High Country, falling to KSU in four sets prior to the 3-2 loss to the Mountaineers.

Appalachian returns to action next weekend when it travels to Lawrence, Kan. for the University of Kansas Invitational. ASU opens its three-match stint in the Sunflower State with contests versus South Dakota State (11 a.m.) and host Kansas (8 p.m.) on Friday.