MARIETTA, Ga. - Faulkner (3-5, 0-1 SSAC) fought tooth and nail in an all-time classic against Life (5-3, 1-0 SSAC) at the Upper Gym in coming back to take the first set and stepping on the gas in the second, but the Running Eagles came from behind in each of the last three frames to claim the 3-2 win in a reverse sweep (23-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-10).
The battle was as evenly matched as they come, as the hosts only won the hitting battle .001 and the teams each scored 69 points. Faulkner led in kills 50-47, assists 49-45 and digs 69-68 on the box score, while Life took aces 9-7, blocks 13-12 and errors 31-34.
It didn't appear the match would be so close as Life jumped out to leads of 7-0 and 9-1 to start. Three kills from Charlee Jordan and another by Ellie Cyr put the Lady Eagles on the board. After the teams went back and forth to put Life up 14-10, the next five rallies went to Faulkner with a pair of miscues, an Allyse Rudolph kill, a block by Madison Martin and Rudolph and another from Martin and Cyr as the visitors took the lead for the first time. The teams traded points once more before Riley Deem and Kaleigh Moss scored kills, and Life committed two more errors as the Lady Eagles took a 22-19 lead. As the teams traded points to close out, Martin claimed the 24th and 25th kills to give her team the opening set win as Faulkner outhit Life .143 to -.031.
The second set had the opposite start as the Lady Eagles jumped out to a 10-0 lead and outhit Life .333 to .088. Cyr scored the first two points off assists from Mandi Hart assists, and Martin and Jordan followed later in the run. Rudolph served up a pair of aces in the run, and Martin split a pair of blocks, one with Cyr and one with Jordan. The teams mostly traded points and runs from there as Martin finished off the frame with another kill.
Backed into a corner at this point, the Running Eagles responded to every Faulkner push with points and runs of their own, claiming the hitting and scoring battle in each set from then on to give the visitors a heartbreaking setback. Jade Watson and Mia Garcia each scored double-digit kills, and Sydney Gonzales and Esosa Ehigiator each led the team in hitting .333.
Jordan and Rudolph were the two Lady Eagles with double-digit kills as well as double-doubles. Jordan scored 12 kills and scooped 18 attacks to go with three block assists while Rudolph was just behind with 11 kills, 10 digs and three aces. Martin and Deem each added seven kills while hitting .294 and .278, respectively. Martin racked up seven total blocks, two of them solo, and Deem had six digs and three blocks. Hart racked up 25 assists with five scoops. Cyr was next in line with 19 assists while scoring five kills, nine digs and four blocks. Libero Jaylyn Strength put up 17 digs and two aces. Moss and Kendall Rice each added four kills.
Faulkner travels southeast to Brewton-Parker Christian for its match tomorrow at noon CT.
