MONTEVALLO, Ala. – Montevallo volleyball dropped a heartbreaker to West Alabama on Friday night, 3-2, in the Falcons' home opener.
The Falcons jumped out to an early 8-3 lead behind four kills from
Katie Wilkerson. Wilkerson continued her hot start in the first set with another pair of kills around the midway point to give Montevallo a 17-10. West Alabama responded with an 8-1 run to slice the UM lead down to 20-19. After a set of back-and-forth scoring, Wilkerson ended the first set with a pair of back-to-back kills to give UM a 25-21 win in the opening bout.
Montevallo took control early in the second set behind a pair of kills from
Eliza Tyrrell to make the score 6-2. The Falcons stretched the advantage to 11-4 off a trio of Tiger errors. After Montevallo took an 18-12 lead midway through the set, West Alabama rattled off a 7-1 scoring run to knot the score at 19-19. To close the second, UWA tallied a 4-1 run to take the second 26-24.
The third set opened with back-to-back scoring from both sides before a 6-1 run to take a 12-5 advantage. The Tigers added to their lead over the next eight points to stretch the lead to 18-8. UWA outscored Montevallo 7-1 down the stretch to take the third set and leave Montevallo in a 2-1 hole overall.
Montevallo bounced back to start the fourth taking a 5-1 lead early with a pair of kills from Wilkerson. UWA responded with to take a 6-5 lead before Montevallo used another trio of errors to regain control 10-7. Later in the fourth, four consecutive kills from Montevallo stretched UM's lead to 17-12. After Montevallo took a 19-15 lead, UWA went on a 6-0 scoring run to take a 21-19 lead over UM late. The Falcons saw three set points before
Ellise Hanson and
Katie Wilkerson tallied back-to-back points to give Montevallo a 27-25 win in the fourth.
To open the fifth and final set, neither side was willing to give ground until an ace from
Lily Erdal gave Montevallo a 7-4 lead at the midway point. UWA trimmed the lead down to 8-7 before a kill from
Mallory Hulsey and an ace from
Lilly Singleton gave Montevallo a three-point advantage. Late in the set an attack error from the Tigers gave Montevallo game point at 14-13 before UWA rattled off a 4-1 run to win the set and hand Montevallo its second Gulf South Conference loss of the season.
GAME INFORMATION
Score: Montevallo 2 | West Alabama 3
Records: Montevallo 10-5 (3-2 GSC) | West Alabama 18-1 (6-0 GSC)
Location: Central State Bank Arena | Montevallo, Ala.
GAME NOTES
- West Alabama held a slim 71-69 lead in kills while hitting .261 on the night to a .232 mark from Montevallo.
- Both sides tallied a total of eight blocks on the night while West Alabama led with 73 digs to 66 from the Falcons.
- Katie Wilkerson led Montevallo with 21 kills on a .311 hitting percentage while Eliza Tyrrell added 18 on a .310 mark.
- Ellie Scharlow highlighted UM's back line with 18 digs while adding seven kills with Ava Wind posting 16 digs and six assists.
UP NEXT: Montevallo plays host to Mississippi Christian on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 2 p.m. in Central State Bank Arena.
