McKENZIE, Tenn. - Faulkner and Bethel entered a back-and-forth battle through four sets before the Wildcats sparked and 8-0 run out of the gate in the deceive fifth set to earn the Southern States Athletic Conference victory 25-27, 25-11, 9-25, 25-18, 15-9 here Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Eagles edged the home team in extended points in the opener, but Bethel retaliated in the second set with an 11-2 run while leading 14-8 to earn the convincing victory.

Not to be outdone, Faulkner exploded in the third set with a 17-2 run of its own while holding the Wildcats to single-digit scoring.

Bethel's ensuing win forced a final showdown, however, and it proved an event the Wildcats were ready to make wroth the effort.

The home team stunned the Lady Eagles with eight straight points on six kills and a pair of Faulkner hitting errors. 

"It became a pride thing at that point," said head coach Tori Bartels. "We'd just proven we could not only beat this team but dominate the court and we were folding. I think in that moment proving to ourselves that we could fight back and not just lie down and die was more important to us mentally than worrying about a loss."

With nothing to show for its efforts at the switch, Faulkner decided to go to work. The Lady Eagles slowly, but surely, found some ground and managed to string a handful of points together while facing Bethel's match point advantage. The deficit proved too big an obstacle to overcome however, and a hard kill at the end of a long rally ultimately brought the event to a close.

"Tonight I saw some of the absolute best play from our team that I've seen all year," Bartels said. "But I also saw us let our mistakes eat us alive mentally. This has been the opponent we haven't been able to defeat this season. Few teams have dominated us in play. People are going to put the ball down on you and you're gonna make stupid mistakes. But it's letting mistakes linger for several points at a time that gives the other side the momentum. Mistakes really haven't been the problem - dwelling on them has. This allows the errors to multiply and doubt to creep into the mind. This might be the most talented team I've ever coached and they can cause serious problems for our opponents. If I can get them to focus on this component, I'm confident we can do some damage in our upcoming matches."

Kelsey Bell led the Lady Eagle attack while securing her third double-double of the week with 14 kills and 20 digs. Defensively, the senior outside was second only to libero Lindsey Ortner who had 21 digs.

Brittnay Renfore hit .208 with eight kills and had five block assists.

Alysa Klassen and Shelby Woods each had five kills in the match. Klassen dominated defensively at the net with nine total blocks and Woods added four block assists.

Sarah Ford had 18 assists in the match and 17 digs, while Morgan Wilson contributed 11 assists.

Faulkner fell to 14-14 overall and 6-8 in the league. With the SSAC regular season now in the books, the Lady Eagles have one more battle remaining before entering the conference tournament next week. Faulkner travels to Freed-Hardeman to take on the Lady Lions Saturday at 1 p.m.