Montgomery, Ala. - The Lady Eagles competed in Day One of the SSAC Volleyball Championship on Thursday at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl. They started with pool play against No. 2 Blue Mountain at 9:00 a.m. and No. 7 Life at 2:00 p.m. In the first match, the Lady Eagles battled throughout each set, but fell short after a 3-0 sweep from the Toppers. In the second match of the day, the Lady Eagles battled with the Running Eagles to the very last set. Faulkner went down 1-0, then came back to take the next two sets. Life took the fourth and Faulkner picked up the win commandingly in the final set to win the match 3-2.
Blue Mountain 3, Faulkner 0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-21)
The Lady Eagles were down 2-0 after two hard-fought sets. They were outpowered, as the Toppers outnumbered them 47-25 in kills, which would be a major factor throughout the match. Faulkner scored several points here and there to keep them in each set, but the Toppers took too many runs full of several points that pushed their lead out early, and Blue Mountain never looked back. The Toppers took set one 25-17 and set two 25-15.
In the third set, the Toppers continued where they left off with five straight points out of the bat. Faulkner ended the run after a service error from the Toppers to bring the score to 5-1. Blue Mountain quickly grew their lead with four more points, but Faulkner evaded the run with a kill from
Allyse Rudolph.
On the next four serves, each team scored two in a row, with Blue Mountain scoring first. The Toppers extended their lead to 13-4 with two more points. Each team then scored on the next two serves to bring Faulkner within nine.
Faulkner drew within six after a kill from
Hannah Bryan and
Riley Deem each, followed by an ace from
Ashton McCullar. The Toppers then jumped out to an eight-point lead with two in a row, but Faulkner went on a 4-0 run to bring the lead down to four.
Blue Mountain scored one more point before Faulkner tied the set with five straight points to bring the score to 17 all. Each team scored on the next two serves to tie it up at 18, but Blue Mountain took a two-point lead with two in a row on the next serves. Faulkner drew within one again after a kill from
Rhiannon Keck, but the Toppers answered with three straight to extend their lead farther.
Faulkner scored two more points, but the Toppers quickly ended the set on the next two serves after two attack errors from the Lady Eagles. Blue Mountain earned the sweep after the 25-21 set three win.
The Lady Eagles had three players, each with five kills:
Rhiannon Keck Riley Deem and
Hannah Bryan.
Mandi Hart led the team in digs with 11. She also had 12 digs.
Ashton McCullar led the team in digs with 18.
Hannah Bryan also had a double-double with 11 digs.
Faulkner 3, LIfe 2 (15-25, 25-23, 25-19, 21-25, 15-6)
The match started with Life scoring first. Faulkner then answered with three of their own. Life turned around and put up three more to take the 4-3 lead. Each team then exchanged points on the next two serves before Faulkner put up two more to take the 6-5 lead. Those two points came from a kill each from
Allyse Rudolph and
Riley Deem.
The two teams traded singular points again before Life took a run of three. The Lady Eagles put up two more kills, one from
Charlee Jordan and the other from
Hannah Bryan. The Running Eagles took a one-point lead on the next serve but Faulkner took the lead right back after two errors from Life. The Running Eagles proceeded to put up two more and the lead changed again. The score now sat at 12-11.
Faulkner tied it up on the next serve but Life pushed their lead out to three after three straight points. Each team then traded points back and forth on the next five serves. Faulkner scored three, with Life only scoring two.
Life then took a commanding lead and took the set after eight straight points to win 25-15.
In the second set, the Lady Eagles started strong with back-to-back kills from
Mandi Hart and
Hannah Bryan. The Running Eagles then answered with two points of their own. Each of them exchanged singular points on the next two serves to bring the score to 3-3.
Faulkner scored three in a row on the next three serves to take a three-point lead. Each team then traded points on the next two sets before Life took a 3–0 run of their own to tie it up seven all.
Riley Deem pushed the Lady Eagles to a one-point lead after a kill on the next serve. Life then tied it back after a Lady Eagle error.
On the next three serves, Faulkner scored, followed by two from Life. Faulkner then took a commanding lead after six straight points to lead 16-10. The two teams exchanged points before Life hit four in a row to draw within two. Each team scored twice in the next four serves before each team traded points on the next six serves to bring the score 22-20 for Faulkner.
Life tied it up on the next two serves at 22 all, but Faulkner took a one-point lead with a
Hannah Bryan kill. The Running Eagles tied it up yet again after an error from Faulkner. After two more serves, Faulkner tied the match up with a kill from
Rhiannon Keck and an error from the Running Eagles to give Faulkner the 25-23 win.
The third set saw Faulkner start the scoring off again with two points but Life quickly turned it around with four straight points. The Lady Eagles answered with two of their own but Life put up one more. Faulkner pushed out to a one-point lead behind a kill each from
Victoria Wheeler and
Hannah Bryan but Life answered with one of their own.
Faulkner took the lead back on the next serve before tying it up again with a kill to bring the score to 7 all. Faulkner then jumped out to a huge lead after putting up seven points in a row. Life ended the run with one point but Faulkner continued their run with three more to lead 17-8.
Life then answered with four of their own to pull back within five but Faulkner extended their lead with two more points. Life scored four of the next five serves to bring the score to within four but Faulkner then put up three on the next four serves to bring the score to 23-17.
In the last four serves, each team scored twice, with Faulkner getting the last point off a kill from
Charlee Jordan to win the third set 25-19 and take the 2-1 lead.
In the fourth set, the two teams put up several runs early in the match. Each team kept it close until the very end but Life took the lead halfway through the set and held on to tie the match up 2-2 after the 25-21 set four win.
In the final set, The Lady Eagles dominated the Running Eagles. The set started out with each team trading points but Faulkner hit an early run with five in a row to take an 8-2 lead. Life ended the run but Faulkner jumped right back to it with three more to push the lead to eight.
Life scored another point before Faulkner put up two more to continue pushing their lead. The match came down to the last four sets, with each team scoring twice and Faulkner ending it on the fourth serve to take the match 3-2 and the final set 15-6.
The Lady Eagles had three players in double-digit figures in kills.
Rhiannon Keck had 14.
Hannah Bryan had 12 and
Allyse Rudolph had 10. They also had two players with 22 assists each,
Mandi Hart and
Ellie Cyr. The Lady Eagles rounded the stats out with three players having double figures in digs.
Ashton McCullar led the way with 16.
Hannah Bryan and
Kolbi Bates both had 14 each.
The Lady Eagles return to action on Friday at 1:30 p.m. They play the No.3 seed, William Carey, for the final game of pool play at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.
