MOUNT OLIVE—Mount Olive College rallied from a two-set deficit to force a fifth set, but the Trojans fell to St. Andrews Presbyterian College 25-13, 25-20, 21-25, 12-25, 15-6 in Conference Carolinas women’s volleyball Tuesday at Kornegay Arena.

The Lady Knights improved to 11-19 overall and 6-11 in the conference with the upset win. St. Andrews moves into a tie for eighth place in the conference standings with six league victories, which is the eighth and final spot for the Conference Carolinas Tournament. SAPC concludes its regular season at Queens University of Charlotte on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and the conference tourney pairs will be announced late Saturday.

The Trojans (12-17 Overall; 11-5 Conf.) had a relatively inexperienced lineup on the floor with four starters not dressed due to a violation of team rules. St. Andrews took early advantage, breaking away from a one-point margin for a 14-7 lead in the first set. An ace by junior Leah Davison gave the Knights a 21-11 lead and freshman Elysia Tiegs had kills on the final two points to give St. Andrews the first set.

Mount Olive led for much of the second set before senior Jamie Hayes served two aces during a 10-0 run to give St. Andrews a 19-13 lead. The Trojans never got closer than five points and sophomore Heather Bolwerk’s ace gave St. Andrews a two-set lead before Mount Olive started its comeback.

After dropping the first two sets, Mount Olive broke away from a 13-13 tie in the third set as Destiny Ma’ave-Kuewa’s ace, a diving dig by Brooke Norris and a double block by Kristin Smith and Christiane Maul keyed a 6-0 run. Back-to-back kills by Mote helped the Trojans build a 24-17 lead before St. Andrews fought off four set points. But an attack error ended the set and kept Mount Olive in the match.

Mount Olive used a run of seven unanswered points to jump out to a 7-1 lead in the fourth set, the last three points coming on aces by Mote. Maul helped the Trojans build the lead to double digits as her service led to a St. Andrews overpass and a kill by Bridgette Briggs, followed by an ace by Maul to extend the lead to 13-3. The margin never fell below eight points as back-to-back aces by Smith gave Mount Olive a 21-8 lead and Maul’s ace on set point sent the match to a fifth set.

The Trojans served seven of their 10 aces in the fourth set.

Mount Olive had rallied from two sets down in victories over Lees-McRae and Barton earlier this year, but the comeback would fall short Tuesday evening as St. Andrews never trailed in the fifth set. Freshman Kelly Stine had three early kills to help the Knights build a 6-2 lead. Mount Olive would not get any closer than three points and St. Andrews ended the match on a 6-0 run. Davison had a block for the Knights at 13-6 and combined with freshman Jessica Himalstein for a double block on match point.

Bolwerk led St. Andrews with 11 kills, while Himalstein added a season-high 10 kills. Stine and Davison both ripped seven spikes. Bolwerk was two digs away from a double-double with eight lifts while adding three aces. The Knights offense hit .123 for the match while holding Mount Olive to a .079 hitting percentage.

Hayes recorded SAPC team-high totals of 26 assists and four service aces. Senior Courtney McDonald led the Knights defensively with a match-high 20 digs. Sophomore Erica Davis scooped up a season-high 16 digs. Davison led all players with five blocks.

MOC’s Alicia Mote led all players with 18 kills and shared match-high honors with four aces, including three in a row during the fourth set. Maul finished with 12 kills and four blocks for Mount Olive, while Ma’ave-Kuewa recorded a career-high 33 assists to go with two blocks. Whitney Quinn had a team-high nine digs and Alexandra Simon, who moved from libero to outside hitter for Tuesday’s match, had four kills and eight digs.