MILLIGAN, Tenn. - The Lady Eagles rebounded from a tough opening day with a pair of dominant victories on Day Two of Milligan Mountain Madness to get to .500.
Faulkner 3, Union Commonwealth 1 (19-25, 25-10, 25-19, 25-16)
UCU jumped out to the 1-0 lead with a 25-19 set one win, but Faulkner flipped the script in the following frame by outhitting the Bulldogs .500 to .048. Kills from Charlee Jordan and Allyse Rudolph tied it at two apiece after an early deficit and a pair of kills from Ellie Cyr off Mandi Hart assists gave Faulkner its first lead of the contest. The Lady Eagles then took the lead for good with a service error and three consecutive aces from Rudolph. Leading 10-7, they took advantage of another service run, this one seven to grow the lead to 17-7, started by a Jordan kill when Hart served up aces on four of five serves ahead of a Madison Martin kill. The last five points of the frame went to Faulkner as well, starting with a service error and including a kill by Rudolph and two by Kendall Rice, to tie the match.
Faulkner led 6-1 and 8-2 in the third frame before the Bulldogs came back to take a 10-9 lead. After trading points, Jordan and Cyr tallied kills to give the Lady Eagles the lead to stay in the period. Rudolph, Kolbi Bates, Jordan and Rice would add kills in succession before a block by Rice and Riley Deem to grow the lead to 21-15, and Martin and Jordan each added another kill for points 24 and 25.
Despite one more error than UCU in the fourth frame, Faulkner had nine more kills to win the hitting battle .440 to .136. Tied 4-4, the Lady Eagles broke off a 10-0 run via three Rudolph kills, one kill apiece from Rice and Deem, a block split by Deem and Rudolph and three aces by Cyr. It would be enough to keep the Bulldogs at arm's length the rest of the way.
Jordan and Rice both hit .400 with 10 and seven kills, respectively. Rudolph led her team in scoring with 12 kills, three aces and five digs. Martin tallied 10 kills on a blistering .471 mark. Cyr was just behind with seven kills on .462 hitting to go with 13 assists, seven digs and four aces. Hart scored her second double-double of the season with 24 assists and 12 scoops as well as four aces of her own. Bates scooped 10 attacks for her part, and Jaylyn Strength added four assists and two aces.
Faulkner 3, Milligan 0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-21)
After back-to-back contests on Friday, Faulkner used the break between matches to their advantage to jump on and dispatch the host Buffaloes early. With a tie game eight rallies in, Deem bookended a 6-0 run with kills. Jordan had a kill as well and Rudolph fired two aces to keep the momentum on her squad's side. Milligan later scored six straight as well and got within two, but Rudolph and Rice tallied kills and Deem and Jordan put down a block to add some distance at 21-16. The last three rallies went to the Lady Eagles, as Jordan scored point 23 via kill and Hart served up an ace to put her team up 1-0.
The teams went back and forth for the majority of the second frame despite Faulkner outhitting Milligan .286 to .000 and committing half as many errors as the hosts. After Cyr and Rudolph followed up kills with service errors to make the Eagle advantage 16-15, nine of the last 10 points went to the girls in blue. Deem and Jordan started the run with kills off dishes from Cyr. Martin provided the bulk of the closing 5-0 run with three kills, to which Hart added another ace.
Unwilling to go away that easily, the Buffaloes made the final frame the closest. They parlayed a 4-0 run into a 7-4 lead before the match took a back-and-forth pace once again. Deem tallied back-to-back kills off Cyr assists to tie the match at 15 before Rice and Martin followed suit for 16 and 17. Trailing 20-19, Rudolph kicked it into high gear once again with two kills off Hart dishes for points 20 and 21 to put her team ahead to stay. Two Cyr kills sandwiched the last Buffalo point of the event before Deem and Rudolph came up with the last two points off Cyr dimes to finish off the sweep.
Hart finished off her weekend with 21 assists with three aces as she earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Cyr hit the floor on eight of her 11 swings for a stellar .727 hitting percentage. As if that were not enough, she tallied a double-double of 18 assists and 10 digs to go with a pair apiece of aces and assisted blocks. Deem scored eight kills on a .636 output and assisted three blocks. Rudolph registered nine kills, eight digs and two aces. Bates had seven digs and two assists and Strength six digs and two aces.
The Lady Eagles return home for the annual Faulkner Invitational next weekend. Their slate begins with a battle of Eagles as they take on Reinhardt on Friday, August 29 at 5:30 pm.
