MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Lady Eagles won a tough four set battle with Blue Mountain Thursday 3-1 (26-24, 11-25, 29-27, 25-19) in the first round of the double elimination SSAC Volleyball Championship, taking two of the three sets won into extra points. They advance to the winner's bracket matchup with top-seeded William Carey who received a first-round bye. The contest is set for 10 a.m. Friday.
The turning point in the contest came in the third set. Fifth-seeded Blue Mountain held a 17-12 lead, but fourth-seeded Faulkner went on an 8-3 run to knot the swing set at 20. After tying at 23, Faulkner faced set point on four separate occasions and found three kills and benefited from a service error to tie it at 27.
Julia Rice's kill gave Faulkner set point where
Jordan Stewart's dig off her collar sailed over the net and Sydney Colledge misplayed the ball, ending the set.
The Lady Eagles rode the momentum to an 8-1 advantage and would never trail or tie again. Blue Mountain cut the lead to 16-15, but the SSAC Player of the Year
Kortney Barnes took over with two consecutive kills to spark a 7-1 run, pushing the match out of reach.
The Topper and Lady Eagles changed leads eight times and tied 14 times in set one. Trailing 21-18, Faulkner found kills from
Alysa Vinson, Barnes and
Katie Jordan and a block from Barnes to take a 22-21 lead, but a service error tied the opening set back up. Barnes hit another kill to make it 23-22, but a Lady Eagle attack error and a Julianna Taylor kill gave Blue Mountain set point.
Mallory Black and Rice killed the next two points before a Riley Courser attack error sealed the first set.
In all, Faulkner won five of six Blue Mountain set points with four coming from kills by four different attackers.
Barnes finished with 13 kills on a .385 attack percentage with a solo block. Vinson recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 15 digs.
Alexis McInroy had nine kills and 14 digs.
Alyssa Stagner led the team with 42 assists and 17 digs. Stewart dug 12 Blue Mountain attacks. McInroy and Rice had three blocks each.
