MARSHALL,Texas – The Belhaven University volleyball team dropped two matches on Friday evening against the East Texas Baptist University Tigers in conference play.
Belhaven was swept in game one of the doubleheader by a score of 25-23, 25-16, 25-13 and then fell in a five-set showdown in game two by a final of 25-23, 25-17, 15-25, 14-25, 11-15.
In game one, the Blazers got off to a quick 7-4 lead, until the Tigers stormed back to tie the match up at 8 apiece. The Green and Gold led for the majority of the first set, but the Tigers rallied late to clinch the 25-23 first set victory over the Blazers.
In the second set, ETBU got out to a 15-7 lead until the Blazers fired back with five straight points to make the score 15-12 with the Tigers holding the slight advantage. ETBU would then score 10 of the next 14 points to secure the 25-16 second set victory.
In the third set, Belhaven struggled early and found themselves in 12-3 hole. The Blazers were only able to win 13 points in the set as the Tigers earned the third set victory and the 3-0 match victory.
Emily Carroll, Izabella Erickson, and Caitlin Torok led the Blazers with four kills in game one, while Chelsea Creighton and Reagan Young tallied two kills in the contest. Sydney McEachern had a team-high six digs in the match.
In the opening set in game two, the Blazers and Tigers went back and forth for most of the set right down to the last point. Both team were knotted up at 23 then the Blazers scored the final two points in the set to get the set victory over the Tigers.
The Blazers led the Tigers for the majority of the second set to claim the 25-17 second set victory over ETBU. The Tigers knew they had to win or the match would be over, so ETBU did just that and took the third set by a final of 25-15. The Blazers still held the 2-1 advantage over the Tigers in the match going into the fourth set. ETBU continued to play well and clinched the fourth set to even the score to 2-2 to force a match-deciding fifth set. The Blazers fought until the final whistle, but would eventually fall to the Tigers by a final of 3-2.
Chelsea Creighton led the Green and Gold offensively with 11 kills, while Emily Carroll added nine kills and a block in the contest. Additionally, Izabella Erickson posted seven kills in the matchup. Defensively, Sydney McEachern led the Blazers with 16 digs and an ace at the Libero position. Madison Maguire and Lilliana Marlowe each tabbed 10 digs. Grace Eidson earned 11 assists in the game.
The Blazers will return to the court on Tuesday, February 16 for their home opener against the Louisiana College Wildcats. First serve of the double header is set for 5:00 p.m.
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