Box Score Last night the Truett-McConnell Lady Bears Volleyball team took on AAC rival Reinhardt University. The Lady Bears were in search of revenge against the Reinhardt Eagles, after their season came to a crashing halt last fall in the AAC Conference Tournament at the hands of the Eagles.

The Bears got off to a slow start in the first set, trailing by about four points for most of the game. After the final timeout, the Bears trailed by just two points 21-23, but were unable to make a run before the Eagles closed out the game winning 25-22.

Starting the second set, the two teams battled point for point until Keri King made a run behind the service line giving the Bears the edge. The Eagles came back to tie the game 17-17 and again at 21-21. A late three point run behind the serving of Wyatt Sugrue moved the Bears just two points away from winning the game. Back to back service errors from the Eagles gave the Bears a one point advantage, and after an Eagle overpass, the Bears ultimately won the game 26-24.

The third game mirrored the start of the second game, with both teams battling back and forth unable to separate themselves on the scoreboard. However, the Eagles made an 11-3 point run, making the score 11-22. At that time, the Lady Bears called their final timeout in an attempt to regroup and make one last run at the Eagles. Out of the timeout, the Bears went on a 6-point run behind the serving of Georgia Martin before the Eagles earned a kill, ending the rally at 18-23. An immediate side-out by the Bears (19-23) left the Bears down by four, but with only a two point run, the Bears were still down 21-24 and facing an Eagles serve for game point. A kill from Kendall Hardy and an Eagle error forced the Eagles to call their last time out with the Bears being trailing by one. A kill from Tarryn Long tied the game at 24, but a big block for the Eagles gave them the one point advantage 24-25. Back to back Eagle hitting errors gave the Bears the advantage 26-25. A service ace for Keri King allowed the Bears to win the third game 27-25. "That was definitely the biggest single game come back that I have ever coached. I am so proud that the girls did not give up," said Head Coach Melody Tenney immediately following the game.  

In the 4^th set, the Bears led for the majority of the game. The Eagles called a time-out trailing 12-17, before rallying to take the lead late by a score of 21-23. Forcing the Lady Bears, to once again, scratch and claw their way back into the game. After a late timeout and another Lady Bear error, the Eagles were left serving for game point. However, a side-out and two more points tied the game 24-24 before a blocking error gave the Eagles another game-point opportunity (24-25). The two teams eventually found themselves locked in a tie at 25-25, until a late hitting error on the Eagles and a kill from Hannah Simpson allowed the Bears to win an extra point 29-27.

"The girls came together and played as a team more tonight than I have ever seen," said Tenney. "They've worked really hard on limiting their errors and they just played an all-around solid game."

Hannah Simpson led the offense with 13 kills. Kendall Hardy added 10 kills, hitting .563. Tarryn Long also added 9 kills, while Alex Brake and Rebekah Reems combined for 44 assists.

Defensively, Jocelyn Mahayag reset the school record with 41 digs on the match, while Keri King (13 digs) and Tarryn Long (10 digs) also had huge contributions defensively. The team combined for 108 total digs on the night, which helped set another school record for most number of total digs in a single game.
The win helped improve the Lady Bears' overall record to 5-5 on the season and 2-2 in conference play. The win also helped the Bears move up into sole possession of 5^th place in the conference standings. The Lady Bears will play again this Friday, September 25^th, at home against Milligan College. The game is scheduled to start at 6:30 pm.