Faulkner enters next week's SSAC tournament in the seventh seed following a 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 28-26) defeat in McKenzie, Tenn. against league foe Bethel Saturday afternoon in a match that followed the theme of the season: a handful of points away from taking the win. The Lady Eagles dropped two of its three sets lost by the minimum in Crisp Arena.

Six straight attack errors by five different players flipped a 2-0 lead to a 6-2 deficit in the first set. The Lady Eagles would scratch the 'Cats back to take a lead as late as 21-20 in the opening frame before four straight kills from the hosts, three from Arielly De Souza, capped by a Faulkner attack error gave the hosts the 1-0 lead.

The two sides traded runs in the middle of set two with neither squad able to pull away before kills from Julia Rice (FR/Grant, Ala.) and Alysa Vinson (SO/Pike Road, Ala.) at 23-all evened the match up at one set a piece. Six of the final seven points in the set won by Faulkner terminated with kills.

Much like set two, set three featured a back-and-forth contest staying within five points throughout. Four home attack errors in six points, sparked by a Mallory Black (SO/Murfreesboro, Tenn.) solo block leveled the scoreboard at 21-all and one set each. Three kills from three different Wildcats would put Bethel on the front foot heading into the fourth set, however.

A 9-3 run pushed Faulkner ahead 12-5 in set four until Bethel clawed back in with an 8-3 run of its own to cut the score down to one. Alyssa Stagner (SO/Sneads, Fla.) stepped behind the service line for set point at 24-23 but Bethel flipped the script with two kills before Kortney Barnes (JR/Mobile, Ala.) forced another tie via solo block. A kill from Ashley Ingwersen (SR/Huntsville, Ala.) staved off another match point opportunity for the Wildcats, but the hosts would clinch the match two points later.

The Lady Eagles enter Pool B of the SSAC Tournament with No. 2 Bethel, No. 3 Mobile and No. 6 Florida College. Faulkner is 0-4 against the sides but have only been outscored by their pool play opponents by 17 total points. The Lady Eagles take on Mobile Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.