MONTGOMERY, Ala.- Faulkner rolled past Tennessee Wesleyan in the last match of the Faulkner Invitational Saturday in Tine Davis Gymnasium with a dominant straight sets sweep after falling in a valiant effort against an unbeaten Columbia International in similar set scoreline.
COLUMBIA INTERNATIONAL 3, FAULKNER 0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-17)
Faulkner played a solid match, but just could not outgun the talented Rams who improved to 8-0 after the match. The Lady Eagles jumped ahead 3-0 but when tied at seven, CIU put together an 8-3 run to seemingly take control of the set. A block from
Rhi Keck and
Julia Rice cut the score to 19-17, but the Rams scored four straight to pull away for good.
The second set was almost identical as a tie at six each quickly turned into a 17-9 deficit for the hosts. Faulkner tried to claw back, but the deficit was too much.
In the third set, the Lady Eagles and the Rams were tied at 10 when the visitors spun off eight straight with seven kills to take a commanding 18-10 lead. However, Faulkner would not go out without a fight as the hosts found four kills and an ace to bring it to a three point set again. The Rams found a way to close it out though, answering right back with another five in a row sequence to put the match away.
Faulkner committed just 13 attack errors in the match, but CIU's 50 kills were too much to overcome.
FAULKNER 3, TENNESSEE WESLEYAN 0 (25-8, 25-16, 25-14)
The Lady Eagles hit .391 over the match for the highest attack percentage of the season with 42 kills to walk the Bulldogs. All weekend the Lady Eagles battled and had a very valid shout at going 3-1 on the weekend with the two narrow misses Friday and finally received the payoff of victory with the performance to wrap up the 23rd annual volleyball invitational and pick up their first win of the season.
Faulkner racked up 15 kills and no errors in a dominating first set on 34 attempts with no errors jumping to a lead of 13-2 picking up four blocks in that time.
The Bulldogs battled back in the second set, but Faulkner turned a 13-12 lead into a 21-12 advantage as
Haven Owings and
Bella Vestbie took over. Owings picked up two kills and two blocks and Vestbie two aces in the nine point run. Owings tied a single-match career high she set the night before with 15 kills in the match. Vestbie totaled 15 aces over the weekend.
Leading 9-7 in the second, Faulkner ramped it up again with a 12-2 run to end any hopes of extending the match to four from the visitors.
Victoria Wheeler was a force in the block again as she blocked five, including the two aforementioned with Owings. She also picked up seven kills for second most on the team, tied with
Charlee Jordan.
Kendall Rice tied her career high with six kills.
Mandi Hart fell just three digs shy of a 26 assist double-double that would have been her third consecutive double figure assist and dig match. She led the team in a tie with Vestbie and
Ashton McCullar with seven digs.
The Lady Eagles travel to Reinhardt Saturday afternoon for a final tuneup before league play.
