CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College volleyball team dropped its home opener in four sets to Gulf South Conference rival, the University of Montevallo, on Friday, Sept. 24. MC moved to 3-4 on the season and 1-1 in conference play. The Falcons improved to 7-6 and 1-0 in the league.
 
A pair of Choctaws posted double-digit kills on the night led by Lexi Richards'15. Kendall Platt chimed in 13 kills. Lexie Laurendine directed the offensive attack with 42 assists. Defensively, MC had a quartet of players record double figure digs paced by 24 from Missy Beber. Laurendine and Platt each added 14 digs while Richards supplied 12. Six Choctaws notched a block in the contest led by Sloane FitzHenry and Lydia Paulette with three. MC tallied seven, total team blocks.
 
Montevallo took the opening set 25-23, the Navy and Gold knotted the contest at 1-1 with a 27-25 victory in the second. UM held as much as a four-point lead midway through the contest, but the Choctaws fought back to tie the set at 15-all and hold a 20-17 lead behind a Paulette kill.
 
The visitors from central Alabama tied the set at 20-20, but MC again responded with four straight points to take a 24-20 lead. Platt and Laurendine each added a kill during the run along with a pair of Falcon miscues. Again, the Purple and Gold rallied to force a deadlock and 24-all and again at 25-all, but back-to-back kills from Richards cinched the set.
 
Montevallo claimed the contest with late pushes in the final two sets. MC made a run at extending the match to five sets late in the fourth, as it clipped the deficit to within two points, but the Falcons used a 3-1 run to close out the contest.
 
Mississippi College returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 25 as it hosts the University of Alabama in Huntsville. First serve is at 1 p.m.
 

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Notes
- Lexie Laurendine's 42 assists gives her five matches this season with 40-plus assists. The junior has 1,693 career assists and stands second in program history behind Sydney Chandler's 1,756.
- With the team-leading kill total on the night, Lexi Richards has double-digit kills in six of the seven matches this season.
- With double figure kills in the match, Kendall Platt is tied for tops on the team alongside Richards with the most matches in double-digit kills.
- Lydia Paulette's three blocks marks a season-high for the freshman.
- Lexi Richards' 12 digs stands as a career-high for the Bentonville, Ark., native.