PENSACOLA, Fla. - The visiting Lady Eagles of Faulkner (9-16, 3-10 SSAC) fell behind early in the opening set and rallied to claim the second and fourth frames but could not get the upper hand on the host Lady Eagles of Pensacola Christian (19-5, 6-0 NCCAA South Region) at the Arlin R. Horton Sports Center on Tuesday night in the last nonconference test of Faulkner's regular season.
PCC scored the first six and eight of the first nine points, and after the visitors cut the lead in half to 8-4, the former took seven of the next eight rallies to lead by ten. The hosts kept a leg up on Faulkner the rest of the way as they won the hitting battle in the set .370 to .081. The second set went almost the opposite way, however, as Faulkner jumped out to an 8-2 lead on a pair of kills apiece from Madison Martin and Riley Deem, an ace by Ellie Cyr and a block split by Deem and Kynsi Hazzard. Faulkner scored twice as many kills as PCC in the set and outhit the latter .344 to .000.
The third period saw five lead changes, as the visiting Eagles took their last lead at 17-16 with two kills by Deem and an ace from Jaylyn Strength. PCC closed it out with nine of the next 11 rallies, claiming the lead with consecutive kills by Sydney Anderson, who leads NCCAA Division II in points, coming in second in both kills and blocks. The hosts led the frame in hitting with a margin of .361 to .083.
Faulkner refused to go away, utilizing one 6-0 run and a pair of 5-0 spans in the fourth to tie the match once again. The hitting battle went its way, .481 to .088. Deem scored five kills and Martin and Charlee Jordan each scored four, while Cyr and Allyse Rudolph scored aces in the period. Four of Deem's kills came in the closing 7-1 run, with two more of the points coming via consecutive Cyr aces. PCC came right back with one more push, outhitting Faulkner in the fifth set .471 to .250 while jumping out to a crucial 5-1 lead early.
Faulkner managed to hold the lead in most categories for the match, including points, hitting percentage, kills and aces. Blocks and errors, going together, went the way of PCC and proved to be the difference. Four hitters scored double-digit kills for Faulkner, led by Rudolph's 14. Martin and Deem each scored 13 kills, hitting .455 and .345, respectively. Jordan put up 12. Strength led the back line with 19 digs; Rudolph added 14 and Cyr 10. Mandi Hart and Cyr dished out 27 and 24 assists, respectively. Cyr fired three aces, Rudolph served up two, and Hart, Strength and Jordan each added one.
After winning 17 straight in the series, Faulkner has now dropped two of its last three meetings with PCC, both in five sets. It's the first time Faulkner has left Pensacola with a loss to PCC since 2002. After playing Mobile and PCC on each side of the Alabama-Florida state line, Faulkner travels to the Alabama-Georgia line to resume SSAC play at Point on Thursday night.
