Kiara Finley and Kia Thomas combined for 21 kills to lead the Clark Atlanta University women's volleyball team to a 3-0 shutout of Paine College Tuesday.

It's the first victory of the year for Clark Atlanta (1-2, 0-1 SIAC) and their first since ending the 2019 season with a win over Savannah State.

Tuesday, the first set was a close one as CAU got out a four-point lead over Paine () early.  That lead grew to be as much as seven after a Finley kill and an Amirah Bentley service ace made it 22-15. 
But Paine lit up and scored nine of the next twelve points, the last on a kill by Shacari Hardy, to tie the set at 24-24. 

Eventually, two attack errors by Brooke Jones led to two Paine points that gave them a 27-26 lead and a chance to steal the set.   But after a timeout by CAU head coach Dr. Ashley Johnson, quickly got two kills from Thomas and the set winning kill by Jalen Dickerson as Clark Atlanta won the frame 29-27.

The second set saw the Lady Panthers charge out to an early 5-0 led, extending that to an 11-point lead midway through and get to 19-7 late. They cruised to victory in the second set, taking it 25-14.
In the final set, Paine jumped out to the early lead, though CAU quickly got back into it, tying the match at 11-all after a Finley kill.   Paine made another run, getting seven of the next eleven points, to lead 18-15.  A Thomas kill keyed a six-point CAU run that put them up 21-18.  Paine got a close as one – 22-21 – But three straight Lady Panthers points gave the set and the match to CAU.

Finley finished with 12 kills and five digs, while Thomas had nine kills and seven digs.   Jones added five kills and three digs, and Makayla Murphy five kills. Amirah Bentley was good for 29 assists, five digs and a kill and Jalen Dickerson had five kills. TiAna Crider had 12 digs for CAU.

Paine was led by Skye Livingston and her eight kills and 12 digs.

The Lady Panthers now get ready for this weekend's big SIAC Crossover Tournament in Cartersville, Ga.  CAU takes on Lemoyne-Owen at 5 p.m. on Friday, the tournament's first day.