BRUNSWICK, Georgia -- WVU Tech volleyball kicked off the season at the Mariner Invitational hosted by College of Coastal Georgia in Brunswick, Georgia Friday. The team dropped the season opener in four sets to (RV) Reinhardt University before battling to a five-set victory over Faulkner University.

Junior Katelyn Byrd finished with a team-high 33 kills on the day while senior Ana Monteiro put up 30 kills including a career-high 18 in the win over Faulkner. On defense, sophomore Sawyer Hawgood led the way with a total of 42 digs while junior Konstantina Pateli posted a team-high 83 assists, averaging 9.2 per game.

Match One | (RV) Reinhardt 3, WVU Tech 1 -- 18-25, 22-25, 25-21, 16-25 | Box Score

Byrd led the Golden Bears on offense with 16 kills while Monteiro followed with 12 kills. Freshman Valentina Abondano tallied 11 kills towards Tech's 50 total.

Hawgood picked up 22 digs while junior Alice Amitrano had nine and Byrd posted eight.

Junior Konstantina Pateli handled the ball for the Gold and Blue, earning 42 assists.

Match Two | WVU Tech 3, Faulkner 2 -- 32-30, 22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-12  | Box Score

Monteiro's career-high 18 kills was followed by 17 from Byrd and nine from Pateli. Pateli also picked up 18 digs to go with 41 assists while Monteiro marked 17 digs.

At the net, junior Emily Kidd and Byrd had a solo block each while junior Carolina Bologna and Byrd assisted on four blocks. Kidd also marked three block assists while Pateli had two.

The Gold and Blue will continue play at the Mariner Invitational tomorrow, Saturday as they face Tennessee Wesleyan University and University of Saint Francis.