JACKSON, Miss. - Saturday afternoon was certainly an exciting one with the Lady Blazers taking on UT Tyler, who entered Rugg Arena with a 9-1 record and coming off of a three set sweep of Louisiana College the night before.

A day after falling to 13th ranked UT Dallas, the Blazers were looking to gain the momentum back after previously winning four straight matches. 

The Blazers came out in set one firing on all cylinders and the energy in Rugg Arena was evident from the beginning. Belhaven never trailed by a single point in the first set, which ended with the Blazers winning by a score of 25-19.

With all the momentum on Belhaven's side, UT Tyler began to show why they had a 9-1 record coming into the match. The Lady Patriots would get things going with seven straight points to start off set two, quickly jumping out to a 7-0 lead. 

Despite the early lead, the Blazers would fight their way back to eventually even the match score at 12-12. Unfortunately, the Lady Patriots would not be denied and would regain momentum with a 13-3 run to close out set two, 25-15.

After winning set one, and falling behind 7-0 in set two, the Blazers continued the back and forth match by starting set three up 10-0. The Blazers would go on to win 25-23 in what turned out to be a nail biting match despite the early lead. 

Again, the two teams exchanged momentum back and forth with set three going all UT Tyler's  way, 25-18.

With the crowd and player energy ringing through Rugg Arena, the two teams would need a fifth and final set to hash out this intense, high energy matchup.

Unlike the previous four sets, which saw one team dominating the set from the very beginning, this set would be played how a fifth and matchup deciding set should be played. 

No more than two points separated the two teams for the first few points of the match, until UT Tyler saw light at the end of the tunnel with a sudden 10-7 lead. With game five being played to only 15 points, the Patriots found themselves just a few points away from coming into Jackson, Mississippi and leaving with a 10-1 record. 

The Blazers had the crowd behind them, the energy was intense, and Coach Dee was confident and energized along with his team. Belhaven would claw their way back and suddenly take the lead 14-13. 

With Belhaven serving on the match point, the Blazers would watch a serve by senior Blaykleigh Smythe sail over the net and eat ground in front of a UT Tyler defender, to get the service ace to close out the match 15-13 and give the Blazers the overall win against the Lady Patriots.

It was a win like no other for the Lady Blazers, as they improved their overall record to (5-5) and (1-1) in conference play, while handing UT Tyler (9-2) their second loss of the season.

The Blazers were led by Lauren Whiting, who led the team with 15 kills for the match. Blaykleigh Smythe added 8 kills, while posting 5 blocks, 2 service aces, and recording the games winning ace.

Ryan Hardin collected 8 kills and Kelly Aholt rounded out the game with 32 assists for the Blazers.

The Blazers return to the court with a road trip to Louisiana College on Wednesday, September 20. That game is slated to take place at 7 p.m. in Pineville, Louisiana.

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