by Matthew D. Stokes, BerryVikings.com Staff Writer

ROME, Ga. – Playing in its second match in as many days, Berry remained flawless at home and bested Birmingham-Southern in three sets on Saturday afternoon at The Cage Center. Set scores were 25-19, 25-17 and 25-21.

Birmingham-Southern fell to 10-6 on the season and 5-1 in Southern Athletic Association play while Berry improved to 12-3 and 6-1. The Vikings are one-half game ahead of the Panthers atop the SAA.

For Berry, freshman Emily Stromberg led the way with 11 kills and 12 digs while junior Stephanie Quinn had 31 assists. Berry Senior Jenn Tinnell led all players with 14 digs. Birmingham-Southern's Meredith Lee notched 12 kills, and Lauren Reibe picked up 19 assists.

To start the match, Berry led throughout most of the opening set on its way to the victory, 25-19. The following set featured more back-and-forth action but had a near identical outcome, a 25-17 Berry win. To conclude the match, Berry overcame several deficits to emerge victorious, 25-21.

"We've been focused the whole season on every conference match being absolutely critical to our goals," said Berry Head Coach Mika Robinson. "Obviously Birmingham-Southern coming in here undefeated in the conference was a big challenge for us. I couldn't be happier with what we did. I felt like the girls did exactly what I asked them to do scouting-wise."

Berry will return to action on Friday against Centre at 5 p.m. The Colonels handed the Vikings its only conference defeat, 3-2, in Kentucky earlier this month.

See the post game video report from Andrew Daubin and Matthew Stokes: