Faulkner rocks Belhaven in straight sets

JACKSON, Miss. - Faulkner orchestrated a 12-3 scoring run deep in the first set of tonight's Southern States Athletic Conference match against Belhaven that ultimately catapulted the Lady Eagles into a straight-sets victory 26-24, 25-16, 25-19.

The Blazers held a commanding 21-14 lead in the opener, but Faulkner sparked the impressive point swing by capitalizing on Belhaven errors and building an attack using four different weapons at the net.

The Lady Eagles never lost confidence and never trailed by more than two points for the remainder of the evening.

A middle hitter tango proved the dominating force for Faulkner in the bout with Brittnay Renfroe and Alysa Klassen blasting the defense with nine kills each hitting .423 and .386 and adding four and five total blocks respectively. Klassen also had seven digs.

Jordan Linder followed with seven kills hitting .286.

Libero Lindsey Ortner had 23 digs in the match and Morgan Wilson added 10.

Wilson also led the setters with 17 assists and Jordan Jones contributed nine.

"Tonight was a very important win for us," said head coach Tori Bartels. "We needed to rebound quickly after a disappointing performance on Saturday. This is the first of three conference games on the road this week and I think we've started with a strong pace."

Faulkner moved to 12-5 on the year and 3-2 in the league. The Lady Eagles travel to Brenau for another SSAC battle on Friday in Gainesville, Ga., at 7 p.m. Faulkner defeated the Golden Tigers in a non-league matchup in the Mariner Invitational earlier this year.