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PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Otterbein volleyball team kept its perfect record in tact Friday afternoon on day one of the Carnegie Mellon Invitational, racking up a pair of wins to give head coach Monica Wright a new milestone.

Wright, now in her 11th season at the helm, reached 200 career victories early in the day with the team's straight-set win over Case Western Reserve.

Otterbein won just four matches during Wright's inaugural season in 2007, and then nine the following year as she began to turn the program around. Today, she stands with an overall coaching record of 201-133 (.602).

"I am more excited about 13-0 and a chance to knock off a ranked opponent tomorrow," Wright said. "But, with that in mind, milestones like this are a a great time to reflect on all of the young women, support staff and fans that I have been blessed to interact with at Otterbein."

The Cardinals, playing without injured starters Hadley Sterett and Marie Thornton, opened their weekend with a three-set victory over Case Western by counts of 29-27, 25-11, 25-16. The result improved the team to 12-0 and secured the best start to a season in program history, as the 2009 team had won its first 11 matches.

Otterbein emerged in what was an extremely tight first set, remaining undefeated in opening frames this year as setter Andrea Miller handed out a crazy 21 assists to begin. Both sides were tied at nearly every point down the latter half, with Otterbein ultimately prevailing after consecutive kills from Brett Bey and Morgan Lowenkamp.

The second frame was a bit more lopsided, as the Cardinals broke open a 12-10 score with an 8-0 run and never looked back.
Otterbein then parlayed that momentum into its third-set triumph, sprinting to an early 11-7 advantage and then keeping the Spartans at arm's length the remainder of the way.

Senior Morgan Lowenkamp and junior Alana King-Mendenahll combined for 28 kills, and just two errors, over 49 attempts to hit .531 collectively. Miller, among the national leaders in assists, finished with 37 while libero Ashlyn Leon had 21 digs.

Otterbein then took down Salisbury (Md.) in the nightcap, jumping ahead yet again and ultimately walking away by scores of 25-22, 25-17, 16-25, 25-16. The Seagulls fell to 10-3 with the loss.

The Cards trailed 21-19 in the first set before finishing on a 6-1 run. Otterbein continued its hot spurt into the second, opening an 11-3 lead and never looking back.

Salisbury stayed alive with a 25-16 win in the third, but Otterbein bounced back to finish the job in the fourth and remain unscathed on the season. The Cards trailed 14-13 in the final set after a service error, but gathered themselves to embark on a dominant 12-2 run and claim victory.

Otterbein received double-digit kills from three players, led by 13 from King-Mendenhall, 12 from Lowenkamp and 11 from freshman Dasha Bruyako. Miller controlled the reins with 44 assists as she recently surpassed 2,000 for her career and is closing in on third all-time in school history.

The Cardinal defense held Salisbury to a .050 hitting percentage throughout, with Leon and freshman Hillary Sterett combining for 29 digs in the back.

Otterbein will be back in action tomorrow with another pair of quality opponents, taking on the 13th-ranked and host Tartans at 11 a.m. and then Wooster around 3 p.m.