MONTGOMERY, Ala. - After easily taking the first set, Faulkner saw William Carey flip the script in the second set before eking out two close sets as the Lady Eagles fell 3-1 (16-26, 25-15, 25-23, 26-24) Friday night in Tine Davis Gymnasium.

Faulkner lit the gym up with a hot start to the match, getting ahead 14-5 with two different runs of four points in the opening stages with nine kills as the hosts hit .262 in the first set cruise. 

However, William Carey returned the favor by sprinting away from a 16-13 lead to take the second set and tie the match.

The third set stayed within four points the whole way with William Carey taking a 17-13 led before Faulkner four times whittled the deficit to two at 20-18, 21-19, 22-20 and 23-21 before a set error brough the set back to a one point difference ahead of a service error to give William Carey set point. Haven Owings totaled one of her 12 kills to temporarily extend the set but a block on the next point gave the Crusaders a 2-1 match lead. 

The fourth set started with a dominant Faulkner start fueled by four Julia Rice kills to take a 13-6 lead, but the Crusaders bounced right back and tied it at 13 with four aces and two blocks. The Lady Eagles then won five of the next six before dropping four in a row to tie the set at 18 again. Faulkner then again won five of the next six to seemingly have the third set in hand at 23-19. The Crusaders however staved off back-to-back set points as Rachel Stegall killed three straight points including the latter set point and giving the visitors the advantage they would capitalize on to seal the win. 

Rice and Owings tied for the team lead in kills with 12 each. Rice did it on an unreal .450 attack percentage for the highest of anyone on the floor. Mandi Hart fell just two digs shy of a 23 assist double-double. Ellie Cyr added 14 assists. Ashton McCullar led the way with 17 digs and Kolbi Bates added 11. Hannah Bryan turned in an eight kill, eight dig performance. 

The Lady Eagles take on (RV) Loyola Saturday at 1 p.m. for the last home match until November.  Read Full Article