HATTIESBURG, Miss., and Blue Mountain, Miss. - Faulkner responded from a Friday night 3-1 (25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 24-26) and a sluggish first set to beat Blue Mountain 3-1 (15-25, 27-25, 25-18, 25-20) Saturday to split its Mississippi conference road trip. 

William Carey 3, Faulkner 1

Mallory Black's 13 kills matched her career high for a single match and Jordan Stewart's 24 digs reset her high-water mark Friday night but it was not enough to overcome William Carey. The Lady Crusaders found timely runs in Friday night's game to take the conference win. 

Tied at 18 in the first set, the hosts fired three kills and blocked a Faulkner attack to pull ahead safely to take a 1-0 lead. With the Lady Eagles leading 16-14, Jordan Stephens took over for William Carey with five kills over the next eight points en route to an 11-1 run, hindered only by a service error to take the 2-0 lead.

The third set featured five lead changes and 15 ties with neither team leading by more than three before Black ended the set with her ninth kill of the night. The Lady Eagles blocked four attacks to extend the match despite hitting their lowest attack percentage of the night hitting .021.

Falling behind 8-2 in the third, Faulkner chipped away before a 9-2 run embarking at 13-10 flipped a three point deficit to a four point lead. Now leading 23-21, Faulkner could not force the fifth set as the Lady Crusaders closed the match on a 5-1 run. 

Alyssa Stagner finished one dig shy of a double-double with 31 assists.

Alysa Vinson totaled 17 digs while wrapping up two kills shy of a double-double herself. 

Black also lead the team with five assisted blocks. Kortney Barnes picked up three assisted and a solo along the defensive net. 

Faulkner 3, Blue Mountain 1

Barnes's block party dominated the day in Blue Mountain. The senior recorded four solo and five assisted blocks to couple four kills as Faulkner knocked off the Lady Toppers.

Traveling nearly four hours between Friday night in south Mississippi and Saturday afternoon's north Mississippi match reared its head in the first set as the Lady Eagles hit a negative percentage in the first set. 17 kills in the second set pushed the Lady Eagles over the finish line to tie the match at one set each. Nine kills to just one errors with blocks scattered in propelled Faulkner to a 2-1 lead before closing out the match by forcing Blue Mountain into 12 fourth-set errors. 

Eight different Lady Eagles recorded multiple kills with Vinson leading the charge with nine. Hannah Bryan had eight while Katie Jordan and Black finished with six each.

Vinson, Stagner and Bryan joined Sarah-Gracen Watts with double digit kills, paced by Vinson's 14.

Black chipped in seven assisted blocks, tying a career record.

The Lady Eagles (5-7, 3-3 SSAC) welcome Middle Georgia (2-11, 1-5 SSAC) Tuesday night at 7 p.m.