The Lady Eagles bounced back from a morning defeat with a solid straight sets victory over Loyola 25-23, 25-21, 25-19 in the quarterfinals of the SSAC Volleyball Championship, presented by Golden Corral Friday night at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl to advance to the semifinals.

Tori Bartels was very pleased with her team's mentality following the morning loss as they took care of business in the afternoon game. "Volleyball is a game of momentum and if you hold onto past mistakes and momentum, you're going to get burned."

Faulkner jumped out to a 14-2 lead in the opening set, but the Wolfpack stormed back to tie the set at 20-20 before Faulkner won five of the last eight points to take the set. 

The second set was a near mirror image of the first. Another early Lady Eagle run put the top-seed ahead 10-4. Loyola again found a run of their own to level the score at 12. A kill from Madison Sides (JR/Piedmont, Ala.) sparked a 9-2 run to put Faulkner ahead for good in the set. 

Loyola's offense was thwarted by the Lady Eagle defense's ability to side out quickly in the final frame. Only once did the Wolfpack string three points together and just twice could they win back-to-back points. Faulkner hit .250 in the final set to put the seventh-seed out of the tournament. 

Krystalynn Leomiti (SR/Long Beach, Calif.) tallied 10 kills while Alysa Vinson (FR/Pike Road, Ala.) added nine both fell one stat shy of a double-double as Vinson had added 11 digs and Leomiti nine. Julianne Wilkes (JR/Deatsville, Ala.) led the floor with 19 digs. Katie Musser (SR/Prattville, Ala.) completed a double-double with 17 assists and 14 digs. Tori Marchant (SR/Huntsville, Ala.) earned two solo blocks and two assisted while Leomiti and Barnes each added solo efforts. 

The defense held Loyola to a .070 hitting percentage. 

"I think we coasted a little bit this morning, and now that the pressure is on and it is do-or-die we had to push through and that's what we did tonight." Marchant said.

Faulkner will face Bethel at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl in the semifinals. Marchant is confident about what tomorrow may hold. "If we play our game tomorrow, we can do anything."