BOX SCORE PUEBLO, Colo. – Led by 10 kills and a .450 hitting percentage from Keidy Candelaria (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Bayamon Military Academy), the University of New Haven women’s volleyball team opened its 2012 season with 3-0 sweep of Missouri Southern State at the ThunderWolves Classic hosted by Colorado State-Pueblo on Friday afternoon.
 
New Haven took the match by set scores of 25-18, 25-20 and 25-23. The contest was the first of four for the Chargers (1-0) in the Rocky Mountain State this weekend.
 
Candelaria, an All-America honoree and the Northeast-10 Player of the Year in 2011, needed only 20 swings to rack up her 10 kills in the contest. Kristy Atufunwa added seven finishers as New Haven hit .247 (30-11-77) as a unit. The Lions were limited to a .086 hitting percentage (32-24-93).
 
Running the offense was Kaulana Ane (Paia, Hawai'i/Kamehameha), who doled out a match-best 27 assists in addition to her four digs and three service aces. The Chargers landed seven winners in total, with two coming from Kea-Marie Olaso (Kailua, Hawai'i/Le Jardin Academy) in her first collegiate outing and one ace each from the serves of Candelaria and Atufunwa.
 
Olaso led the effort in the back row with a team-high eight digs, while fellow freshman Kristen Lee (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) had seven. The action at the net was controlled by Amber Cannady (Yonkers, N.Y./Charles E. Gorton), who had a hand in three of the Chargers’ four blocks.
 
New Haven returns to the court this evening for a 7 p.m. match against Cameron. Following tonight’s match, New Haven closes out action at the ThunderWolves Classic tomorrow with matches against Wayland Baptist (11 a.m. ET) and Montana State-Billings (3 p.m. ET).