MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner hosted the second annual Southern States Athletic Conference cross-divisional volleyball tournament this weekend at Tine Davis Gymnasium. The Lady Eagles got off to an explosive start defeating Emmanuel College (11-1) on Friday in straight sets 26-24, 27-25, 25-22, before dropping a pair of matches on Saturday. Southern Wesleyan (13-0) held on for five sets 25-18, 25-8, 17-25, 22-25, 15-10 and Breanu (6-3) took three of four25-19, 25-19, 17-25, 25-13.

Faulkner didn't play at the level the team has come to expect from itself in recent games, but they pulled out the close win against an upstart Emmanuel team competing in its first-ever conference match.

The Lady Eagles entered Saturday's competition armed with a 1-0 league start, but the excitement was short-lived.

Southern Wesleyan inched away from the home team in the opening set and followed with a pummeling in the second.

After suffering its worst defeat of the season, Faulkner finally began to play with a sense of urgency. The team bounced back to force a decisive fifth set, but the Warriors reigned supreme.

Breanu was more of the same for the Lady Eagles. The Golden Tigers pocketed a pair of wins before Faulkner found a rhythm and went on to secure the victory.

"We have to stop thinking that we can come back all the time," said head coach Tori Bartels in a frustrated tone. "We have to show up and play from the first serve or it's going to be an incredibly long year."

Six times this season Faulkner has had to try and battle out of a two set deficit and was successful only half the time.

Standouts for Faulkner included middle Brittnay Renfroe who dominated at the net. The freshman pounded 35 kills, 16 of which came in the third game alone, hitting a staggering .471 on the weekend. She also had five total blocks.

Neysa Hernandez hit .381 with 28 kills and had 23 digs.

Jessica Long had 20 kills, hitting .328 and had eight total blocks.

Kelsey Bell had 19 kills and 33 digs.

Abbie Melvin was the defensive leader with 55 digs.

Morgan Wilson had 60 assists in the tournament and KK Lo had 52.

Faulkner moves to 11-5 overall and 1-2 in the SSAC. The Lady Eagles will take on LaGrange in a road matchup on Thursday at 6 p.m.