CLINTON, Miss. — Mississippi Christian (11-17, 8-8 Gulf South) lost to UAH (23-2, 15-1 Gulf South) 3-1 on Saturday. The Choctaws took the third set 25-17 but hit .081 for the match, with set scores of 19-25, 24-26, 25-17 and 18-25.
MC kept cutting into deficits in the opening set, including a push from 8-3 to 9-8, before UAH pulled away late for a 25-19 result. Earlier,
Cydney Mitchell supplied one of the Choctaws' first kills, and
Isabella Reyes followed a UAH service error with an ace to help begin the response. Mitchell added another kill,
Caroline Downey finished back-to-back kills during the middle of the set, and
Mary Grace Foster and
Rhaia Davey each scored as The Blue and Gold stayed within 17-16. UAH then answered with points around MC attack errors to build a 24-17 advantage, and although Downey added a late kill and the Choctaws benefited from a bad set, UAH closed the set on the next point.
The Blue and Gold moved within a point of taking the set at 24-21, but UAH answered with the final five points to take the second set 26-24. Earlier, MC responded to a 7-2 deficit by winning seven of eight rallies from 4-8 to 11-9, with
Cydney Mitchell recording a block and a service ace, Reyes adding an ace and
Rhaia Davey contributing a block during the surge. Downey, Davey, Reyes and Mitchell each added kills as the Choctaws stayed in front through much of the middle and late portion of the set, including Downey kills that made it 20-17 and 21-18. The Blue and Gold reached 24-21 after consecutive UAH attack errors, but UAH closed with three kills, a service ace and a block to finish the set.
After falling behind 2-1 in the third set, the Choctaws won seven of the next eight rallies to move in front 8-3, getting a Foster kill from
Samarin Kipple and an
Emma Levingston block during the stretch. UAH worked back within 10-9, but MC answered with kills by
Rhaia Davey, Downey and Foster, then pushed the set to 16-11 on another Foster kill and a UAH attack error. The Blue and Gold added separation again from 16-13, with Foster putting down a kill,
Cydney Mitchell recording a block,
Reese Regner scoring a kill from
Rylie Widener and Reyes serving an ace as the lead reached 21-14. Davey supplied a late kill to put the Choctaws at 24-17, and Regner followed with a service ace to finish the 25-17 set win.
MC overcame a 4-2 deficit in the fourth set, using kills from
Emma Levingston and Foster plus a Levingston block to move in front before Foster and
Cydney Mitchell added kills for a 7-5 lead. UAH answered with six straight points to go ahead 11-7, but the Choctaws responded with a Mitchell kill, a Mitchell block and a
Reese Regner kill to stay within 12-10. After UAH stretched the margin to 17-11, Foster stopped the run with a kill,
Samarin Kipple added a service ace, and Levingston delivered consecutive kills to bring The Blue and Gold to 20-16.
Mamie Fromdahl added a late kill to make it 23-18, but UAH scored the final two points to take the set 25-18.
Foster led MC with 11 kills and added three digs.
Samarin Kipple recorded 22 digs and added four assists, while
Reese Regner finished with 30 assists, 12 digs and one service ace.
Cydney Mitchell tallied eight kills, three solo blocks and two service aces.
Up next, the Choctaws travel to Nashville, Tenn., to face Trevecca Nazarene on Friday, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m.
