St. Louis, Mo. - The Lady Eagles traveled to Missouri Baptist University for the weekend to participate in the Missouri Baptist Volleyball Tournament. On day one, they competed against No. 24 McPherson College and St. Ambrose University. The Lady Eagles fell to the Bulldogs 3-1 in their first match of the day. Faulkner saw themselves down 2-0 but battled back in the third set to push the match to four. McPherson took the match after a dominant fourth set. In match two, the Lady Eagles took on the Fighting Bees of St. Ambrose University. Faulkner started the match with a win in set one. The Fighting Bees, down one set, came back to take the match in four after winning the next three sets to win 3-1 over the Lady Eagles.
Match 1
McPherson 3, Faulkner 1 (25-13, 25-20, 21-25, 25-7)
The Lady Eagles jumped out to an early 8-4 lead. Faulkner went on a 6-0 run after trailing the Bulldogs 4-2. McPherson took a run of their own in 11 straight points to put the Bulldogs up 15-8.
The Lady Eagles answered with a few points, but the match was all Bulldogs as they took set one 25-13.
In the second set, the two teams battled from wire to wire. Neither team could stretch their lead farther than three until late in the set when McPherson took a 5-0 run to lead 22-15.
Each team answered with a point on the next four serves. In the back half of the set, Faulkner put up three straight points off of two kills from Rhiannon Keck, Riley Deem and an ace from Anna Prempramot. The Lady Eagles drew within four, but on the next serve, the Bulldogs ended the set 25-20 with a block from Daniela Jiminez and Hadley Waldren.
The third set was a game of runs as the two teams went back and forth. The Lady Eagles took an early lead after three straight points. The Bulldogs put their first point on the board, but Faulkner jumped to a six-point lead with four more points.
McPherson quickly responded with three of their own to bring them with three of the Lady Eagles.
For the next several serves, the two teams traded points. The Bulldogs took a couple of runs until the Lady Eagles hit four straight points late in the set.
Faulkner led the Bulldogs 17-14, slowly working their way to avoid the sweep. The two teams continued to battle until the last serve. Hannah Bryan earned the set point with a kill and held on to the Lady Eagles' lead. Faulkner forced the match to four with the 25-21 Set Three win.
In set four, the Bulldogs came out swinging early. McPherson jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. The Lady Eagles answered with a few points but McPherson took the set 25-7 and earned the match win 3-1.
Hannah Bryan and Charlee Jordan led the Lady Eagles in kills with nine each. Ashton McCullar led the team in digs with 13. Mandi Hart had a double-double with 18 assists and 11 digs. Ellie Cyr also reached double-figure assists with 12.
Match 2
St. Ambrose 3, Faulkner 1 (16-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-15)
In the first set of the match, Faulkner took an early 3-0 lead after the Fighting Bees committed three attack errors in a row. On the next serve, St. Ambrose scored their first point with a kill.
The Lady Eagles scored two more points after a kill from Victoria Wheeler and an ace from Hannah Bryan. The Fighting Bees answered right back with a kill of their own. The score sat 5-2 in favor of the Lady Eagles.
The Lady Eagles scored on each of the next three serves to push their lead to six, but St. Ambrose wouldn't let the lead get too out of hand as they scored on back-to-back serves to bring the set to 8-4.
On the next four serves, the teams each scored two more points. The score stayed close until late in the set, with the Lady Eagles up 21-15. The Fighting Bees put up one more point before Faulkner ended the set with four points in a row to win set one 25-16.
In the next three sets, the Fighting Bees turned it completely around. They took the next three sets over the Lady Eagles to pick up the 3-1 win. Faulkner battled in each set, but St. Ambrose took advantage of several runs throughout the remainder of the sets to pick up the comeback win.
Hannah Bryan led the Lady Eagles again in kills with nine. Rhiannon Keck had eight of her own. Ashton McCullar had another double-digit match in digs with 14. Ellie Cyr and Mandi Hart also reached double digits in assists again, with 15 for Cyr and 13 for Hart.
The Lady Eagles return to action on Saturday morning for day two of the Missouri Baptist Tournament. They take on Missouri Baptist at 11:00 a.m. and Lindsey Wilson at 2:00 p.m. Both teams are receiving votes in the NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches Top 25 Poll.
