Carrollton, GA - Down two sets to none, the West Georgia Wolves found life on Friday evening against the Mississippi College Choctaws, but a furious comeback fell just short as the Wolves ended up on the short end of a 3-2 stick in Gulf South Conference play.
Senior
Jaida Allen and her squad laid it all on the line on Friday evening, pushing the visiting Choctaws to a fifth set for the first time this season. In 25 previous matches this season, West Georgia had yet to play a five-set match. Allen and sophomore
Paige Berriochoa had their best evenings of the year, with Berriochoa delivering on 17 kills and Allen putting down six blocks in the contest.
The Wolves opened the match in an error-prone way, as Mississippi College jumped out to an early 10-1 advantage in the first set. Of those 10 points, six came on UWG attack or service errors and West Georgia ended the set with 11 errors in a relatively close score. Despite the slow start, the Wolves came back and pulled to within three at 19-16 before MC closed out the set with a 6-3 run to win 25-19.
For the first 17 points of the second set, the Wolves held an advantage until the Choctaws tied the set at 9-9. West Georgia pulled ahead again with a 6-2 run to lead 15-11 in looking to tied the match. Mississippi College ran off four straight points, then outscored the Wolves 10-6 over the final 16 points to take a 25-21 victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Choctaws scored on the first point of the third set, but then the Wolves reeled off seven straight points to take a commanding 7-1 lead. Freshman
McKenna Wharton had two kills in that run, but West Georgia also forced three attack errors from MC. The pendulum swung back-and-forth in this one, as UWG built a 10-point lead at 17-7, followed by a 10-3 run from Mississippi College as the Wolves clung to a 20-17 advantage late in the set. Berriochoa closed out the set with her fifth kill of the set as the Wolves kept the match alive with a 25-20 win.
The fourth set saw the Wolves fall behind early only to come back and win 25-17 to forced a fifth and deciding set. It was one of the top individual sets of the year, as the Wolves had 12 kills in 19 attempts with no errors for a .632 hitting percentage.
Lindsey Thomas and Berriochoa had five and four kills, respectively in the set to lead the Wolves to tie the match at 2-2.
In the fifth set, the Choctaws built a 3-0 lead early, then held off the Wolves in the final points to take a 15-10 win and a 3-2 victory in the match.
Madi Fleming led the offense with 38 assists while three hitters had at least 10 kills. Berriochoa led with 17, giving her 33 in the past two matches, followed by Thomas with 12 and Wharton with 10.
The Wolves drop to 4-22 on the year and 1-15 in Gulf South Conference play. The home finale of the 2016 season is set for Tuesday evening, as the Wolves take on the Shorter Hawks.
