Hawks Volleyball Falls At LaGrange In Four Sets

LAGRANGE, Ga.- Coming off a five set win against Piedmont, Huntingdon volleyball(8-17 overall, 4-5 CCS) fell to the LaGrange College Panthers(6-15 overall, 3-7 CCS) 3-1.

How it happened

LaGrange opened the match by taking down the Hawks 25-17 in the opening set. Huntingdon earned the first point of the set off a Panther error, but LaGrange managed to take the lead on the following serve and never let it go, recording 14 kills with only 2 errors en route to a 1-0 advantage. However, the Hawks battled back to claim the second set 25-19. Huntingdon jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, taking advantage of two Panther errors with an ace from Jessi Hilyer and a kill from Izzy Valldeperas. Back-to-back aces from Valldeperas pushed the Hawks lead to 7-2, but the Panthers began to slowly crawl their way back into the set, cutting the deficit to as little as 14-11 before evening the score 16-16. Points from Molly Wilson and Morgan Suggs boosted Huntingdon back to a 19-16 lead, which they would hold throughout the duration of the set, with Wilson earning a kill to close it out and even the match 1-1.

LaGrange would storm back from their second set loss to take the third set 25-23. An early 5-1 run would give the Panthers a 7-3, but their advantage would be short-lived, with kills from Lily VanDyke and Izzy Valldeperas tying the score at 8. Once even, Huntingdon opened up a 4-1 run, with kills from Morgan Suggs and Molly Wilson giving the Hawks a slight lead. Not to be outdone, the Panthers went on a 6 point run of their own to reclaim the lead 15-13. Huntingdon, once again, tied the set at 18 courtesy of an ace from Eva Ellenburg, and the two teams began to trade points in the latter stages of the match. With the score 20-20, the Panthers scored on 4 consecutive serves to take the set and go ahead 2-1.

To close the match in four sets, the Panthers would walk away with a 25-20 fourth set victory. Huntingdon clinged to an early 4-2 lead and held on to it midway through the set, remaining ahead 13-11. An 8-1 run from LaGrange would put the Panthers ahead 19-14 and they never looked back, taking down the Hawks 3-1.

The Hawks look to bounce back on Saturday, October 19th, hosting Covenant and Agnes Scott in a CCS tri-match. Games are scheduled for 12:00 and 4:00.