Lions Fall Short In Upset Bid

MARS HILL, N.C. – The Mars Hill volleyball dropped a 3-2 decision to league-leading Wingate on Friday, October 07, inside of Chambers Gymnasium. The Lions were the first team in the conference this year to take multiple sets off of the nationally 24^th-ranked team in the country. However, MHU came up just short with set scores of 25-18, 16-25, 23-25, 25-18, and 11-15, falling to 2-11 overall and 1-9 in the SAC, while the Bulldogs improved to 18-1 and 10-0.

Mary Kate Griffin paced the Lions with 12 and 23 digs, while Maddie Spurgeon produced her best offensive game of the season with 11 kills. Rebecca Butler added 10 kills. Sara Fahrenbrook and Andie Russell combined for 41 assists and Victoria Kaiser collected a game-high 24 digs.

Wingate looked poised to make short work of the Lions in set one, jumping out to a 4-1 lead. However, five straight points from MHU changed the momentum of the frame. With the score at 10-9 in favor the Lions, a quick 7-4 spurt cushioned the lead at 17-13. From that point the Blue and Gold finished business with a 25-18 set win.

The Bulldogs were once again the aggressor to start the second set, collecting 10 of the first 15 points en route to knotting the match at 1-1 with a 25-16 frame win.

The third set was a nip-and-tuck affair with the two teams trading the initial 20 points. With the score tied at 10-all Mars Hill took three consecutive points to jump out 13-10. Late in the match the Lions still led 23-22, but three straight from Wingate gave the Bulldogs a 25-23 set win and 2-1 match lead.

With their back against the wall in set four, MHU dominated the early portion of the set. The Lions took a `14-13 lead and turned it into a 25-18 beat down to even the match at 2-all.

Mars Hill jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the all-important fifth set, but Wingate quickly turned that around with a 6-0 run. From that point it was all academic as the Bulldogs finished the fifth set 15-11 and the match 3-2.

The Lions will return to the court tomorrow evening at 5:00 p.m., welcoming Coker into Stanford Arena.