Reagan Malpass prepares to serve the ball during the Scots’ matchup with Pinecrest on Thursday night at Scotland High School.
                                 Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange

Reagan Malpass prepares to serve the ball during the Scots’ matchup with Pinecrest on Thursday night at Scotland High School.

Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange

<p>Addison Johnson (4) sends the ball over the net against the Patriots.</p>
                                 <p>Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange</p>

Addison Johnson (4) sends the ball over the net against the Patriots.

Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange

<p>Head Coach Adam Romaine addresses his team during their game against Pinecrest on Thursday night.</p>
                                 <p>Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange</p>

Head Coach Adam Romaine addresses his team during their game against Pinecrest on Thursday night.

Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange

LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots volleyball team fell to conference rival Pinecrest three sets to two on Thursday night at Scotland High School. Scotland drops to 15-5 (6-4 in conference games) with the loss while the Patriots improve to 15-6 (10-0 vs conference opponents) with the win. It was Scotland’s first home loss of the season and second overall to Pinecrest after they were swept back on Sept. 10. Despite the difficult loss, Head Coach Adam Romaine was pleased with the fight his team showed and thinks it can be a sign of good things to come if they handle it the right way.

“I’m proud of the way they competed, this is a playoff caliber team,” Romaine said. “With the way we played tonight and with how we handled Union Pines last week, we know we can play well, the girls just have to believe it.”

The first set was one the Scots had control of from the beginning and never trailed. They would obtain that control by getting four unanswered points as part of a 7-1 run that forced Pinecrest to take a timeout when they trailed 10-4. The Scots would keep their foot on the gas, going on a separate 9-4 run out of the break to go up by 11 at 19-8. They would then cruise to the finish line from there and take the set 25-16.

The ensuing set started well but did not end very well for Scotland. They would go on a 4-1 run early to go up 5-2 but that would be the high point. They held one more lead at 7-5 but eventually fell behind 11-8 and called timeout to try and stop the Pinecrest momentum. That didn’t work very well as the Patriots got up by seven (18-11) before Scotland called for another timeout. That stoppage didn’t help either as Pinecrest simply had their way with the Scots the entire time and took the set 25-14.

The Patriots then dominated the all important third set from start to finish. After the Scots got the first point, Pinecrest would get the next eight before a Scots timeout and another four after the timeout to go up 12-1. It was simply a set that Scotland had no answers for anything the Patriots were doing as Pinecrest handily won the set 25-7. Romaine boiled down the problem to one thing: serve receive issues.

“We just fell right into our slump of serve receive and it rolled downhill,” Romaine said. “There’s just no recovery from that and we had to change our mindset going into the fourth set.”

To their credit, the Scots started the fourth set with a renewed sense of energy as evidenced by the 5-2 advantage they held. The Patriots would get within one (9-8) but Scotland responded with four unanswered points to stretch their lead up to five before Pinecrest called for time. The Patriots did not go away, managing to get within two on the strength of an 8-6 surge that made it 18-16 before the Scots called for time. After Pinecrest pulled within one, the Scots got three points in a row to go back up by four at 21-17. However, as if according to script, the Patriots managed to tie the set at 21 and again at 23. Scotland still pulled through when it mattered and took the set 25-23 to force a decisive fifth set. Romaine pointed to a motivational aspect for the seniors playing Pinecrest for the last time as a key factor in the turnaround from the third set to the fourth.

“I pulled the seniors over and told them it was their last time playing Pinecrest,” Romaine said. “They came out and played hard, I was super proud of them coming out and not giving up after the third set and winning the fourth set like they did.”

The final set was everything you’d expect based on how the game had gone to this point. Scotland managed to go up 10-5 on the strength of a 6-1 run. Unfortunately, the good vibes were quickly lost with Pinecrest getting five in a row to tie the game and also ending the set on a separate 4-1 run to win 15-12.

Addison Johnson and Molly Gallagher contributed 18 and 14 kills, respectively. Reagan Malpass had 36 assists while Gallagher also had 12 digs. Nora Teasley had three blocks.

The Scots will get the weekend off before closing out their regular season schedule with two games next week. They will first travel to Lee County on Tuesday night before returning home for senior night on Thursday against archrival Richmond. Scotland swept both teams earlier this season.