LAURINBURG – The women’s volleyball team hosted a tough AAC opponent in the Reinhardt Eagles Thursday night. A couple of close sets and an exciting overtime set victory for the Knights made for a fun, exciting atmosphere. But, the Knights weren’t able to pull off the win and ended up falling to the Eagles three sets to one.

The first set started fairly dominant for the Eagles as they were able to jump out to a quick 13-7 set lead. Eagles hitter Ambria McBride was able to convert on a couple of kills early on, while Caroline Curry was able to contribute a block and a kill of her own for Reinhardt. Down 15-10 in the set, the Knights started to find their footing on the match and went on a 6-2 run to get within a single point to Reinhardt. Two kills from Xaria Pearson (San Antonio, TX) and another couple kills from Carmen Wright (Henrico, VA) helped the Knights establish an offensive presence.

Althought the Knights defense was able to force a couple of attack errors on the Eagles hitters, the Knights weren’t able to get too much momentum going after their run and ended up dropping the set 25-22.

Set two started sloppy for both sides as each team traded attack errors and were tied early on at three a-piece in the set. Following the back and forth action, the Eagles truly showed why they came into the match ranked fifth in the conference standings as their offensive display came to life in full force. Maria Cordova had enjoyed multiple service aces in a huge Reinhardt streak, while hitters Allison Selway and Katherine Perrin chipped in on the offensive side as well.

Although Ashley McGugan (Laurel Hill, NC) pulled off a well executed kill attempt, the Knights were unfortunately unable to muster any kind of offensive attack and were outscored on the set 25-13.

Set three brought all the drama and was where the Knights found the grit to turn up in a toughly contested match. The story of the set was resilience for the Knights as the Eagles jumped out to a hot 10-2 lead, carrying their attacking power from the first two sets. From there, the Knights slowly chipped away and three Samantha Vernati (Royal Palm Beach, FL) kills and a combined block between Vernati and Pearson settled the score at 13 a-side midway through the set.

The teams traded points back and forth with neither side able to gain more than a two point lead over the other. A huge block by Samantha Vernati and Xaria Pearson, a block combo in the making, tied the score at 21 all.

With the Knights’ backs against the wall and staring at a 3-0 loss, the score sat at 25-24 in the Eagles favor. (In Volleyball, a “win by two” rule is implemented in each set). A Maddison Larrimore (Bladenboro, NC) kill got the crowd on their feet and gave the Knights a shockwave of confidence and tied the game at 25-25.

From there, a Samantha Vernati kill and a clutch Martha Ann Robinson (Clover, SC) block, gave the Knights the two point advantage they needed in overtime to push the match to a fourth set.

The outcome wouldn’t end up being what the Knights were looking for as the Eagles from Reinhardt were able to take a commanding 10-5 set lead early on in the fourth set. The Knights were never able to find a decent rhythm as the Eagles were able to grow their lead all the way to 19-13. Kills by Vernati and Martha Ann Robinson for the Knights brought them within reaching distance but the Eagles were able to comfortably close out the set and the win at 25-19.

The Knights continue their conference schedule when they travel to Truett-McConnell on Sep. 24th, in an 11 a.m. late morning match.