Pioneers Handed First Loss At Home
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Freed-Hardeman (TN) (9-4, 0-1) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
|
Crowley's Ridge (3-2, 0-0) | 16 | 22 | 17 | 0 |
Pioneers Handed First Loss At Home- Wil Teague, Sports Information Director, 9-16-23
Crowley's Ridge- 0
Freed-Hardeman- 3
Paragould, Ark.- The Lady Pioneers hosted the Lady Lions of FHU in the Carter Activities Center this afternoon with the opening serve scheduled for 1:00pm. The Pioneers now 4-1 and currently on a 4 game win streak would see it snapped as the stout offensive wave from the Lady Lions seized control and doomed the Pioneers. In the opening set the Pioneers saw a Lions offense smash out a .500 hitting percentage producing 17 kills compared to CRC's team effort of 6. The middle set CRC would stand tall with the Lions, tying the set 6 times throughout and even take the lead 22-21 via a late 6-1 run as Hannah Halverson started a rally with back-to-back service aces and Kinley Matlock ending it with one. FHU took a timeout and when play resumed the Lions ended the Pioneer run by shutting out CRC and collecting the final 4 points. In the final set with CRC facing a home sweep, the Pioneers came out hot by leading by as much as three over FHU. The Pioneer defense rallied behind Emi Elms on the front row and Kinley Matlock on the back but unfortunately CRC couldn't stop the Lions as FHU produced their highest kill set in the matchup by hammering out 19 more kills. Before long what small momentum CRC built, the Pioneers watched it disappear as CRC was forced to take a timeout all squared up at 15-15. Much like the ending of set two, when play resumed the Lions reestablished dominance by ending the contest on a 10-2 run, claiming the final set 25-17.
Emi Elms took the spotlight as the senior led in kills with 6 and also stood tall at the net by collecting 11 blocks (5 solo) in the three set loss. Hannah Halverson matched Elms' kills along with co-leading in digs as her and Kinley Matlock posted 11 each. Heather Conaway was the only other Pioneer in the double digit stat category as the senior chased with 10 digs. The Pioneers look to bounce back on Tuesday, September 19th against Lyon College on the road.