MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner milked tonight's Southern States Athletic Conference dual with Mobile for all it was worth, but despite forcing extended-points play in two of the three sets, the Lady Eagles were unable to overcome the Rams in the 25-21, 27-25, 29-27 loss here at Tine Davis Gymnasium.

Mobile's scrappy defense backed a potent offensive punch to anchor the win. The Rams were resilient defensively from the opening whistle, thwarting numerous aggressive Lady Eagle attacks in the the first set. Faulkner tweaked it's approach in subsequent games to utilize creative play up front which ultimately forced the contest into a much tighter race. Mobile refused to fold under the mounting pressure, however, and that resilience payed off in the straight-sets victory.

"I know you guys wanted a win tonight," head coach Tori Bartels told her team after the game, "I did too. But don't hang your heads, you played very well and we're now one step better than we were yesterday. We will have to go through Mobile if we want to make it to conference championship next week. I hope this isn't the last time we face them."

The Rams outhit Faulkner .247 to .171. Hannah Buck led Mobile up front with 14 kills, hitting .297, while Bailey Nations added 13 kills, hitting .379.

Sarah Dubberley led the Faulkner side with nine kills, while adding 10 digs.

Alysa Klassen followed with eight kills, hitting .333, and added a pair of blocks.

Jordan Linder had six kills in just under two sets of work and hit .353 in the process.

Tori Marchant and Krystalynn Leomiti each had five blocks in the match.

Jordan Jones had 17 assists and 11 digs while fellow setter Katie Musser had 13 assists and six digs.

Cassie Bailie led the back line with 20 digs.

Faulkner dropped to 20-12 overall and 9-6 in the league. Faulkner will conclude its regular season in tomorrow's SSAC match with Loyola at 2 p.m. The Lady Eagles will honor their four seniors in a special ceremony after the contest.