Hattiesburg, Miss. - The Lady Eagles traveled to Hattiesburg, Miss on Saturday afternoon to take on SSAC foe William Carey. Faulkner bounced back from the Friday night loss to Loyola and picked up their fifth win in a 3-2 match.
Faulkner 3, William Carey 2 (25-18, 25-21, 10-25, 14-25, 15-13)
The Lady Eagles and Lady Crusaders set the tone in the first set that would become a trend throughout the remainder of the match. The two teams battled throughout the entire first set. Faulkner jumped out to a two-point lead, but Carey quickly tied it up at three even. From there, the Lady Eagles would push out to a lead, but the Lady Crusaders would climb back and tie it up.
Late in the match, the Lady Eagles eventually jumped to a five-point lead. Three straight kills from Hannah Bryan put Faulkner up 22-17. The Lady Crusaders put up a point on the next serve, but that would be the last point of the set for them. The Lady Eagles took set one with three points in a row off two Carey errors and an ace from Mandi Hart. Faulkner won set one 25-18.
For set two, the battle poured over from set one. The Lady Eagles jumped to a 5-1 lead early in the set. William Carey then stole the lead over the next several serves to take an 8-7 lead.
The Lady Eagles answered with a 4-0 run, but the Lady Crusaders upped the ante with a 5-0 run to take the lead back. Down 13-11, the Lady Eagles took a timeout to regroup. Out of the timeout, Faulkner put up back-to-back points from a kill by Ellie Cyr and an error from Carey.
For the next several sets, the two teams went back and forth, earning points until Faulkner hit a 5-0 run and led the Lady Crusaders 21-16.
William Carey put the pressure on Faulkner with a 4-0 run to bring the Lady Eagles lead down to one point. The Lady Eagles extended their lead behind two kills from Victoria Wheeler and a service ace from Ellie Cyr.
The Lady Eagles needed just one more point to take set two, but the Lady Crusaders avoided the end of the set for at least one more serve after a service error from Cyr.
On the next serve, the Lady Eagles took the second set after another late-set kill from Victoria Wheeler. The Lady Eagles headed to the third set up 2-0 after the 25-21 score.
In the third and fourth sets, the Lady Crusaders commanded the score and sent the match to the fifth set. William Carey jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in both sets. Carey took set three 25-10 and set four 25-14.
With the fifth set, the tempo continued to sway back and forth. Neither team could take control of the lead as they traded points back and forth. The set score stood at 7-6 in favor of the Lady Eagles. William Carey earned four straight points to take the first lead larger than two of the fifth set.
The Lady Eagles immediately drew within one after back-to-back kills from Charlee Jordan, but the Lady Crusaders answered with two kills of their own. The Lady Eagles didn't quit, though they battled back with three straight points. Rhiannon Keck and Ashton McCullar earned a kill each, and Hannah Bryan and Charlee Jordan had the block for the third point. Faulkner now had the score tied at 12 all.
The Lady Crusaders took the lead after a service error from the Lady Eagles. In the next three serves, the Lady Eagles would clinch the set and the match. The win came behind an attack error from Carey and two kills from Allyse Rudolph. The Lady Eagles were able to pick up a much-needed SSAC win with the final score of 15-13 for the set and 3-2 for the match.
Charlee Jordan led the way in kills for the Lady Eagles with nine. Allyse Rudolph and Victoria Wheeler had eight each. Ashton McCullar had 19 digs for the game-high. Mandi Hart and Ellie Cyr both had double-digit assists. Hart had 16, and Cyr with 14.
The Lady Eagles return to action next Friday, Sept. 27, when they host UT Southern for another round of SSAC play. The first serve is set for 6 p.m.
