Lions Pick Up First Conference Win In Five-Set Thriller At Anderson

ANDERSON, S.C. – The Mars Hill volleyball team picked up its first conference win in a thrilling five-set affair against Anderson on Tuesday, October 04. After the Lions took the first two sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-18, the Trojans returned the favor with two straight set wins of their own, 25-19 and 25-19. MHU overcame an early deficit on the fifth set to earn the win and improve to 2-10 overall and 1-8 in the SAC, while AU falls to 9-7 and 6-3.

Lauren Hochstetler and Mary-Kate Griffin posted double-doubles on the evening to help the Lions spring the upset. Hochstetler finished with a team-high 13 kills to go along with 11 digs, while Griffin pounded out 12 kills and 14 digs. The duo of Andie Russell and Sara Fahrenbrook dished out a combined 56 assists and Victoria Kaiser posted a game-high 34 digs. Sally Anne Johnson connected on 12 kills, while hitting a whopping .478.

The Lions jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in the first set and carried that momentum towards the latter part of the frame. However, with the score at 21-16 in favor of the guests, Anderson used a 6-1 burst to knot the set at 22-all. MHU would not squander the lead, taking three of the next four points to go up 1-0 in the match.

Mars Hill came out firing on all cylinders in the second set, capturing the first five points, but Anderson came storming back with a 5-1 run to close the gap to 6-5 early on. The Lions put their foot on the gas one more time and ballooned the lead to 21-13. Although the Trojans would make a bit of a push it was not enough as the Lions took a commanding 2-0 match lead with a 25-18 set victory.

Anderson made things very interesting over the next two sets, taking both of them with relative ease to knot the match at 2-all and send it to a decisive fifth set.

The two teams split the initial 10 points before Anderson ripped off two consecutive to go up 7-5 in the all-important set. That lead would remain all the way until 11-9 in favor of the Trojans, forcing a timeout from the Lions to rethink strategy. The brief hiatus seemed to be just what the Lions needed as they came out of the break collecting four points in a row to take a 13-11 lead. Anderson tied the set at 13-all, but back-to-back kills from Griffin and Maddie Spurgeon gave the Lions the set and match.

Mars Hill will return to the friendly confines of Stanford Arena for its next match, hosting league-leading Wingate on Friday, October 7. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.