MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner (10-5, 1-2 SSAC) fought hard to push a match that easily got out of hand back to a manageable task, but was unable to string together enough runs to claim a set against an undefeated William Carey squad at Tine Davis Gymnasium and lost 3-0 (16-25, 20-25, 20-25). The Lady Crusaders (15-0, 3-0 SSAC) finished ahead in all but one team statistic and tallied a .173 hitting percentage while holding the Lady Eagles to a .048 mark and a negative hitting first set with 10 errors to just five kills.
The hosts started the first two sets strong with a 3-0 lead in each. The first began with kills by
Victoria Wheeler and
Haven Owings that preceded a service ace by
Alyssa Stagner, but William Carey eventually tied it at 5-5. The teams traded blows until Faulkner had pulled from a 15-12 deficit to another tie game. WCU stormed back by scoring eight of the next nine points, four of them from the attack of senior outside hitter Mia Hague, a seven-time recipient of SSAC Player of the Week awards, and 10 of the next 12 to close the book on the opening period.
The second frame saw the Lady Eagles' lead grow to 6-2 via two kills from Wheeler, another by
Molly Presnell and three errors. One of the misplayed attack attempts was blocked by Owings and Wheeler and the other was turned away by
Julia Rice and Presnell. Once the Crusaders rallied and tied the game 11-11, Hague scored her team's next five points. Faulkner did not go away and a Hague error placed it behind just 21-20 before a pair of errors and kills by Hague and Avery Durdin put the visitors ahead 2-0.
Scoring six points in a sequence of seven put WCU up 11-6 and scoring five of six put it within five points of the win. Faulkner began to make noise with an Abby Wright error and an ace by
Sarah Boyd, and it responded to an Elaina Anderson kill with five straight to get within 21-20. Presnell and McInroy kills formed the run combined with three errors, two of which occurred with blocks shared by Wheeler and
Hannah Bryan. However, scores by Reagan Huff and Anderson sandwiched two more from Hague to finish this one off.
Presnell led the Lady Eagles with 22 digs and seven kills. Stagner finished with a team-high 10 assists and the team lead in hitting percentage.
Alexis McInroy contributed nine digs and six kills. Libero
Kolbi Bates added eight digs, and
Mandi Hart seven assists.
Now that it has played the leader in the conference standings, Faulkner stays home for its next game, in which it will square off across the net against the team in second place on Thursday night, Mobile.
