Columbia, S.C. - The Lady Eagles traveled to South Carolina for the Columbia International University Invitational for four matches. On Friday afternoon they took on the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Spartanburg Methodist College for day one of the invitational. In game one against UM-Dearborn the Lady Eagles took the first game loss 3-2.
UM-Dearborn 3, Faulkner 2 (17-25, 25-14, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12)
In game one, the Lady Eagles and the Wolverines went the full five sets with the Wolverines picking up the win in the final set.
The Lady Eagles picked up set one with the final score of 25-17. The Lady Eagles jumped to a 10-2 lead over the Wolverines. Dearborn quickly brought the Faulkner lead down to four, but the Lady Eagles pushed the lead back to six from a kill by Charlee Jordan and a service error from the Wolverines.
From there the Wolverines continued to stay within five until a block by Victoria Wheeler and Hannah Bryan made the score 19-13. The two teams answered each other with a point to keep the lead at five for the next few serves until the Lady Eagles pushed the lead back to seven with a kill from Jordan off the assist from Mandi Hart.
The Wolverines answered with another kill, but Rhiannon Keck answered back with a kill of her own. Marisa Fetterley brought the score to 23-17 with a kill for the Wolverines.
The Lady Eagles sealed off the set one win with two kills from Kendall Rice and Macy Kemper and the final score for the set at 25-17.
In the second set, the Wolverines came back out to tie the match up 1-1 with a final score of 25-14 to push the game to four sets at least.
With the third set, the Lady Eagles came out swinging with four straight points. Dearborn put down two kills but Faulkner answered with four more in a row.
The two teams went back and forth with the Wolverines trailing by just a few points, but the Lady Eagles ran out to a seven-point lead after an attack error from Dearborn and two aces from Hannah Bryan.
Each team continued to trade points back and forth with not much momentum swaying towards either side. With the Lady Eagles two points away from the set win, the Wolverines came within four points. Faulkner quickly ended the set with two kills from Kemper and Bryan for the 25-19 set. The Lady Eagles took the two-one lead looking to take the match with the next set.
In the fourth set, the Wolverines tied the match up 2-2 and forced the fifth set. The entire set teetered-tottered for both teams, never really pushing too far ahead. The Lady Eagles went up 23-21, but unfortunately, Dearborn won the set with four unanswered points to end the set 25-23.
With the final set and the match on the line, the Wolverines started with a quick three points. Victoria Wheeler and Ellie Cyr earned the block and the first point for the set. Dearborn answered right back with two more points to push the lead to 5-1.
The Wolverines had an error on the next serve but quickly pushed the lead back to four with a kill. Allyse Rudolph and Riley Deem brought Faulkner within two after a pair of kills.
From there the teams answered each other with a point on the next four sets and the set. The score sat at 8-6 until the Wolverines ran the lead up to six on four straight points.
Faulkner came back within five off an attack error, but Dearborn pushed the lead right back to six with a kill.
The Lady Eagles went on a 5-0 run to bring the game within one point, but despite the hard fight, the Lady Eagles came up short after the Wolverines took the fifth set and the match with back-to-back points. The final score was 15-12.
The Lady Eagles had three players in double digits for kills. Hannah Bryan had 15. Victoria Wheeler had 12, and Rhiannon Keck had 10. Macy Kemper had a .500 attacking percentage and 19 assists. Mandi Hart had 27 assists to lead the Lady Eagles in the first match of the CIU Invitational.
Faulkner 3, Spartanburg Methodist 0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-21)
After losing in game one of the CIU Invitational, the Lady Eagles bounced back for the game two win and the split of day one action. Faulkner took on Spartanburg Methodist in their second match of the day. They swept the Pioneers in three hard-fought sets.
In set one the tempo of the match was set very early. Each team traded points until Faulkner went on a 5-0 run to put the Lady Eagles up 10-4. The Pioneers softened the lead back to five, but Faulkner answered right back with three more points off a few errors from Spartanburg Methodist.
The match continued to sway until the Pioneers tied the set after a 5-0 run of their own. The set sat 24 all pushing it to extras.
Faulkner took the lead after a kill from Hannah Bryan, but SMC tied it right back after an attack error from the Lady Eagles.
The Lady Eagles took the set on the next two serves with kills from Victoria Wheeler and Charlee Jordan to end the first set at 27-25.
Set two saw no difference as the two teams fought from the first serve. After six serves the score sat 3-3. The Pioneers pushed out for a lead, but the Lady Eagles kept the set close all the way.
The Lady Eagles took a three-point lead after going on a 5-0 lead to put them up 20-17.
The Pioneers fought but the Lady Eagles took set two after a pair of attack errors from SMC. The final score for set two was 25-20.
With the sweep looming, set three began with two quick points from each team to tie the game at ones. Each team went on 3-0 runs to tie the set up 4-4.
Set three saw a few runs as each team battled back in the game. With the Pioneers leading 20-18, the Lady Eagles took the lead with six straight points to go up 24-20.
Spartanburg tried to rally after a service error from Faulkner, but the Lady Eagles took the set and the 3-0 sweep behind a kill from Riley Deem. The final score of set three ended 25-21.
The leaders for the Lady Eagles in game two were Hannah Bryan with 11 kills and Mandi Hart with 16 assists. Hart also had eight digs.
The Lady Eagles return to action for day two of the CIU Invitational with two games at 12 and 2 p.m. Game one the Lady Eagles take on Reinhardt University, and in game two they face Columbia International.
