EAST STROUDSBURG –  The East Stroudsburg University women's volleyball team opened its six-match homestand with a 3-0 sweep against Kutztown on Tuesday night inside Koehler Fieldhouse. Senior Sarah Smith paced the Warriors with 11 kills and 12 digs.
 
ESU (16-4, 7-1 PSAC Central) faced its first divisional opponent of the season in the Golden Bears and hit .280 as a team in the process. The Warriors tallied seven aces and 13 total blocks in the match.
 
Smith recorded her 10th double-double of the season for ESU while adding three total blocks. Senior Sam Dunphy and redshirt junior Trea-sure Ketter each added seven kills for ESU, while sophomore Kenzie Guimont tallied six kills. Freshman Rachel Cain guided the ESU offense with 34 assists.
 
Leading 12-11 in the first set, the Warriors used a 5-0 run to take a 17-12 advantage against the Golden Bears. The run featured a kill by Guimont and a pair of assisted blocks from Guimont and Dunphy. The lead stretched to 20-12 following a pair of attacking errors by Kutztown.
 
Trailing 23-15, Kutztown rallied to trim the deficit to 23-19 before consecutive kills from Dunphy and Smith secured the 25-19 victory for the Warriors.
 
ESU rallied from an early 5-2 deficit in the second set as the Warriors knotted the score several times before a kill from Ketter would give her team the lead for good. ESU increased its lead to 14-11 leading to a Golden Bears' timeout.
 
A pair of aces from Dunphy highlighted a 4-0 run that stretched the Warriors' advantage to 18-12. Freshman Jessica Irwin delivered an ace of her own to make it 20-13, while back-to-back blocks from ESU made it 22-14. The Warriors claimed a 2-0 lead in the match as Ketter and Smith blocked an attack by Holly Owen to secure the 25-16 victory.
 
The Warriors battled back from an early deficit in the third set as a 4-1 deficit turned into a 6-5 advantage. The lead would eventually increase to 9-6 after an ace from Dunphy before consecutive kills from Smith made it 13-7 ESU.
 
A solo block from Ketter gave ESU a 17-9 advantage in the set and capped a 3-0 run by the Warriors. The Warriors completed the sweep of the Golden Bears following kills from sophomore Clare Davison and Smith as ESU won the set 25-14.
 
The Warriors, who improved to 7-1 at Koehler Fieldhouse this season, host Cal U on Friday night at 7 p.m. ESU hosts Seton Hill on Saturday at 4 p.m. as part of Homecoming 2019.