MOBILE, Ala. — Mississippi Christian lost to Spring Hill 3-1 on Tuesday, taking the opening set 25-19 before falling 20-25, 21-25, 14-25. The Choctaws finished with 44 kills and a .132 hitting percentage, while Spring Hill totaled 57 kills and hit .224.
MC turned a 14-14 first-set tie into a 21-15 lead by winning seven of the next eight rallies, with
Holland Williams putting down three kills and
Mary Grace Foster adding two during that stretch. Earlier,
Reese Regner opened the set with a service ace and assisted
Meg Paparella on the next point, and the Choctaws built an 11-6 advantage behind kills from
Cydney Mitchell,
Audrianna Green,
Caroline Downey, Paparella and
Mamie Fromdahl, plus a
Samarin Kipple ace. Spring Hill worked back to tie the set at 13-13 and again at 14-14, but MC answered with the decisive mid-set surge and continued to side out as Foster added two more late kills. The visitors reached set point at 24-18 on a Spring Hill attack error and took the set 25-19 on a service error.
The Blue and Gold pushed back from an 18-12 deficit in the second set and climbed within 20-19, getting kills from
Holland Williams and Foster before a Foster-
Cydney Mitchell block helped keep the rally moving. Earlier, MC started the set with a Mitchell block on a Spring Hill attack error and a Downey kill from
Meg Paparella, then continued to trade points behind finishes from Downey, Williams, Mitchell and Paparella. Spring Hill answered a 9-7 Choctaws lead with five straight points, and later used another five-point stretch to move in front 18-12. After MC closed the gap to one, Spring Hill scored four straight points, and although Mitchell added one more kill, Spring Hill finished the set 25-20.
The Choctaws' main push came in the middle of the third set, when they erased an 11-6 deficit and moved ahead 16-12 behind service runs from
Samarin Kipple and
Reese Regner. Earlier, MC started the set with three straight points, including kills by
Audrianna Green and
Meg Paparella, before Spring Hill answered to build the 11-6 advantage. Kipple's turn at serve included a
Cydney Mitchell kill, a service ace and a
Meg Paparella kill from Mitchell to tie the set at 11-11, and Regner later added an ace as Mitchell was part of two blocks during the stretch to 16-12. Spring Hill responded after the Blue and Gold led 18-15, scoring four straight to go ahead 19-18, and although the Choctaws tied it at 19 and stayed within 21-20, Spring Hill closed out the set 25-21.
MC erased an early 6-2 deficit in the fourth set with a four-point push on
Mamie Fromdahl's serve, getting kills from
Audrianna Green and Foster before
Holland Williams and
Isabella Reyes combined on consecutive blocks to move ahead 7-6. Spring Hill answered to reclaim control, but the Choctaws stayed within range through the middle of the set behind another Foster kill, a Williams kill and several Spring Hill service errors. After the Blue and Gold were within 16-13, Spring Hill put together the decisive late stretch, scoring eight straight points with Ella Faliveno serving. Williams added one more kill to stop the run, but Spring Hill closed the set 25-14.
Holland Williams led MC with 12 kills while hitting .385 and added four block assists.
Samarin Kipple recorded a team-high 17 digs, along with five assists and two service aces.
Cydney Mitchell finished with seven kills and a team-best six total blocks, including three solo blocks.
Meg Paparella added 10 kills and seven digs.
Up next, the Choctaws host Lee on Friday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m. in Clinton, Mississippi.
