BRUNSWICK, Ga. - Faulkner battled out of a host of deep deficits throughout today's Southern States Athletic Conference showdown with No. 18 Coastal Georgia. The Mariner firepower proved a dominating force in each of the three sets, however, and the key to the team's 25-18, 25-18, 25-22 victory over the Lady Eagles.

Faulkner faced a 7-1 rut out of the starting block in the opening set which forced a timeout. The Lady Eagles repaired some loose components and introduced some assertive play at the net that ended up driving the bout to a 10-10 tie. 

The Lady Eagles again squandered a few points, but began to regain momentum just past the half way mark. An overturned call while Faulkner had serve issued a jolt to the team's rhythm, however, and the birds never fully regained their traction.

After an identical outcome in the second set, Faulkner found itself behind heavily in the final battle. A key timeout at the 23-13 mark helped usher new life into the Lady Eagles, however, and served as a spark for a 9-to-2 run. 

Faulkner's head's-up work at the net coupled with numerous Coastal Georgia blunders allowed the visitors to creep into the danger zone. The Mariners ultimately managed to tally the necessary pair of points before the Lady Eagles' surge carried the event into additional sets.

Faulkner faced and up hill challenge this afternoon that began yesterday in Mt. Vernon, Ga. After securing a 3-0 decision over conference foe Brewton-Parker, the team began what turned into a nine-hour battled with transportation issues. A broken charter, 5:20 a.m. hotel arrival and severely fractured sleep patterns did little to energize the Lady Eagle's hopes of derailing a Top 25 team they were 0-8 against lifetime. 

Despite the nagging setbacks head coach Tori Bartels is pleased with her team's performance and refuses to acknowledge unwelcome circumstances as the lead culprit in the outcome.

"I know the girls were exhausted today and I disagreed with many of the calls in the match, but those aren't the reasons we didn't pick up the win," Bartels said. "Coastal is a vary solid team and they were better today than when we played them a few weeks ago. We made a lot of mistakes, but they did too. At the end of the day they played better than we did when it mattered most. I feel frustrated for the girls. They've worked really hard an I'm very proud of how we pulled together under the circumstances. If we continue at this level through the remainder of the season and into the conference tournament, we should get one more crack at the Mariners."

Coastal hit .292 as a unit while holding the visitors to just under .100. In addition, three Mariner attackers racked up double-digit kills while all hitting well over .300.

Faulkner's offense was led by outside hitter Hannah Shanley. The sophomore had eight and hit .217.

Fellow outside Sarah Dubberley followed with five kills and led the defense with 14 digs.

Alysa Klassen added four kills and led at the net with three total blocks.

Setting duo Jordan Jones and Katie Musser offered up 13 and 10 assists, respectively.

Libero Cassie Bailie had 11 digs for the Lady Eagles.

Faulkner dropped to 16-10 overall and 6-4 in the SSAC. The Lady Eagles will next host Breanu in a league matchup at Tine Davis Gym at 7 p.m. on Oct. 23. Faulkner won the previous matchup 3-2.