Lions split day one of SAC Regional Crossover

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – The Mars Hill volleyball team (1-1) split versus Chowan and Emmanuel on day one of the South Atlantic Conference Regional Crossover Friday afternoon. The Lions downed the Hawks 3-1, but fell to Emmanuel in game two by the same score.

GAME ONE: MHU 3, CHO 1

Sally Anne Johnson and Dayanna Barbosa led the offensive charge for the Lions in their 3-1 win over Chowan.  Each player had 14 kills with Johnson having the highest hitting percentage on the day at .458.

The Lions started strong, winning the first six points of the contest, but Chowan would storm back and take 10 of the next 11, forcing the Lions to call a timeout.  A back and forth affair in the first set ultimately saw Chowan go up one set to none, taking it by a score of 26-24.

Mars Hill roared back in the second set, going up 13-6 midway through the frame.  They would win 12 of the next 16 points to take set two 25-10.  They rolled their momentum through the final two sets, taking them by scores of 25-14 and 25-16, respectively.

Sara Pasour picked up 20 assists while Abby King chipped in with 17 in four sets played.  Pasour, along with Elizabeth Kaeser, each added two aces.

GAME TWO: EC 3, MHU 1

In a reverse of fortunes, the Lions won the first set, 25-18, but dropped the next three against Emmanuel to end day one with a record of 1-1 to kick off the 2018 season.

Tied at one set apiece, the third set was decided came down to the last four points played.  With both teams knotted at 22 points, kills by Julie de Blanck and Stephanie Hardy gave Emmanuel two set points.  An attack error would pull Mars Hill within one, but Jessica Gray redeemed herself by closing out the set with her 13^th kill of the contest.

The Lions trailed for a majority of the fourth set, aside from when the teams were tied at four apiece.  Emmanuel, leading 21-17 in the fourth, reeled off four straight points to pick up their fourth win of the season.

Barbosa led the team with 12 kills in the contest, 26 on the day.  Johnson added 11 in the loss to Emmanuel to close the day with 25, respectively.

King added nine kills and led the Lions with 23 assists.

Mars Hill wraps up SAC Regional Crossover action on Saturday, September 1 with contests against Belmont Abbey and King.  Start times for those games are scheduled for 12 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.