Montgomery, Ala. - The Lady Eagles split each day of the 24th Faulkner Invitational. On day one Faulkner started out with a 3-1 win over Freed-Hardeman in the fourth set. In Friday's second match, the Lady Eagles took a 3-0 loss to Texas A&M Texarkana. On day two the Lady Eagles split the day again after an 0-3 loss to Keiserr and a 3-0 win over Williams Baptist.
Day 1
Faulkner 3, Freed-Hardeman 1 (17-25, 22-25, 25-18, 19-25)
The Lady Eagles found themselves up 2 sets after earning 10 kills in set one and 7 in set two.
In set three Freed picked up the set after avoiding a Faulkner comeback that came with two quick points before the Lions could seal the 25-18 set.
Set four, the Lady Eagles picked up the match with a 19-25 score. The Lady Eagles earned nine kills in the final set of the 3-1 match.
Allyse Rudolph and
Hannah Bryan tied for most kills at eight a piece.
Hannah Bryan finished the match with 12.0 points and
Mandi Hart with 12 assists through four sets.
Texas A&M-Texarkana 3, Faulkner 0 (25-16, 27-25, 25-17)
In set one the Lady Eagles found themselves down 21-10 but eventually closed the gap to 22-15 on a few kills and attack errors by Texas A&M-Texarkana.
Unfortunately, TAMUT would close the set out on three of the next four serves.
The second set was a hard-fought battle as the two teams went back and forth. In the closing moments of the set
Charlee Jordan hit the kill off the assist from
Mandi Hart to tie the set 25 all. TAMUT would quickly end the set with two quick points.
In the third set, TAMUT jumped out to a four-point lead and never looked back, but the Lady Eagles never gave up as they climbed within a few points several times throughout the remainder of the set but the early lead was too much to overcome.
Charlee Jordan had 15 kills in the match, while Mandi Hart matched her in assists.
Day 2
Keiser 3, Faulkner 0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-13)
Despite losing the match 3-0 the Lady Eagles still fought hard in each set. Hannah Bryan led the Lady Eagles with 10 kills while Ellie Cyr led with assists in 7. The Lady Eagles out scored the Seahawks in blocks 6 to 5.
Faulkner 3, Williams Baptist( 17-25, 21-25, 25-27)
In the second match of day 2 each set was extremely close down to the wire. The Lady Eagles were able to push the lead and sweep Williams Baptist.
In set one Faulkner dominated most of the match until Williams Baptist went on a five straight run to bring them within 5 at 22-17. The Lady Eagles quickly pushed the lead with two kills from Hannah Bryan and a final point after an attack error from Jayla Weddington.
Set two was close to the wire as the Lady Eagles were only up 23-21, but two attack errors from Williams Baptist sealed the set two win for Faulkner.
In the final set, the two teams battled as they found the game tied 25-all. With the sweep on the line the Lady Eagles collected back-to-back kills from Charlee Jordan and Riley Deem to clinch the 3-0 sweep.
Hannah Bryan led the team again with 10 kills while Macy Kemper led with 14 assists.
The Lady Eagles return to action when they travel to Columbia, S.C. for the CIU Invitational on August 30 and 31. They will play University of Michigan-Dearborn at noon and Spartanburg Methodist at 4 p.m. on Friday. Then on Saturday, they play Reinhardt at noon and Columbia International at 2 p.m.
