ADRIAN, Mich. -- Leze Vukaj had a career-high 26 kills in the Siena Heights women's volleyball team's 3-1 victory over Northwestern Ohio in a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference match on Wednesday at the SHU Fieldhouse.

The victory helped SHU (5-1, 2-0) continue its best start in more than 10 years. Siena Heights won with set score of 25-17, 25-11, 23-25, 25-15.

Vukaj ended the match with a hitting percentage of .512. She also had five total blocks and an assist as she figured into a 32 Siena Heights points.

Taylor Felver finished with 12 kills and Abby Whitehead had nine.

Nicole Morgan and Haley Mercy led the Saints' defense with 18 digs apiece; Mercy tied her career-high, which she had reached three other times. Tillotson added 11 digs.

In the first set, the Saints snapped a 9-all tie with 6 of 7 points to take a 15-10 advantage. They rode that to a 1-0 match lead.

SHU kept its momentum going into the second set and led most of the way, closing the set with a 16-4 stretch.

In set three, the Saints grabbed an early 6-2 advantage and held the lead until UNOH pulled even at 8-8. The Racers grabbed their first lead of the set and eventually went up, 18-14, before SHU battled back with a set-tying 4-0 run. The teams then traded three-point streaks and then Northwestern Ohio finished with four of the final six points.

During the fourth, the Saints enjoyed several dominant stretches -- one 7-0 streak and three 5-0 runs -- to close the match.

Leah Hofmann led the Racers with 11 kills while Nora Fa'atiga added eight. Katie Elson finished the night with 22 assists. UNOH's defense was led by Cierra Anderson and Nora Fa'atiga with 15 and 14 digs, respectively. 

The Saints will be in action next when they hit the road on Friday for a 7 p.m. WHAC match at Lourdes (Ohio).