Columbia, S.C. - On day two of the CIU Invitational, the Lady Eagles took on Reinhardt University and Columbia International University in the final two games of this weekend's road trip. In game one, Faulkner lost 3-1 against Reinhardt. In game two CIU took the match in three sets over the Lady Eagles.
Reinhardt 3, Faulkner 1 (23-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-13)
In set one the Lady Eagles took the lead after exchanging points for the first 10 sets. Faulkner went on an 8-0 run to push their lead to 12-5. The two teams continued to battle with Faulkner commanding the scoreboard. Reinhardt brought the set back within one at 24-23, but Faulkner would hold on to the lead after a service error from Reinhardt. The Lady Eagles took set one 25-23.
Reinhardt took the next three sets over Faulkner. In each set, the Lady Eagles battled but Reinhardt sealed out the win for game one.
Charlee Jordan led the Lady Eagles in kills with 14 and a .379 hitting percentage. While Mandi Hart led with 12 assists and zero errors. Macy Kemper and Kolbi Bates had double-digit digs in game one. Kemper with 12 and Bates with 10.
CIU 3, Faulkner 0 (28-26, 25-16, 25-17)
The first set saw a game of runs. The Rams would go on a stretch of runs, but the Lady Eagles would answer right back with their own. CIU took a three-point lead at 22-19, but with a CIU serving error and back-to-back aces from Kolbi Bates Faulkner tied it up at 22-22.
On the next serve, the Rams took the lead with a kill. The Lady Eagles then turned around and pushed to a two-point lead behind an attack error from the Rams and a kill from Hannah Bryan.
The first set entered extras after the Lady Eagles took the lead 25-24 after a kill from Victoria Wheeler. CIU then tied it back at 26-26 with a kill. Faulkner tied it again off the service error from the Rams.
The Lady Eagles came up short after Columbia International won with back-to-back kills. The final score of set one was 28-26
Set two the Lady Eagles fought to the end, but the Rams took set two late with four straight points to win 25-16.
For set three the Lady Eagles started on a 4-0 run. The Rams found themselves down 6-1 before they would start to push for the lead, but Faulkner wouldn't let go of the lead until midway in the set. CIU took over after a 3-0 run to bring the score 10-9. From there the Lady Eagles battled but were unable to gain the lead. The Rams picked up the sweep over Faulkner with a set three win. The final score was 25-17.
Hannah Bryan led the Lady Eagles in kills and digs with 10 and 12. While Mandi Hart led the team again in assists with 13.
The Lady Eagles return to action on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at Montevallo University for an Exhibition game at 6 p.m.
