PEMBROKE – The visiting Montevallo Falcons posted a .298 hitting percentage and notched seven more kills than the UNC Pembroke volleyball team for the 3-1 Peach Belt Conference victory on Friday evening inside the English E. Jones Center.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for UNCP (10-13, 1-8 PBC), while the Falcons (13-7, 5-3) grabbed their fifth PBC win this season.
Junior Nicole Mathews claimed a double-double with 17 kills and 19 digs, while setter Sabrina Gonzalez dished out 37 assists and was behind 15 digs for her double-double. Senior Danielle Brown collected 20 digs, while freshman Ka'asha Jefferies added 12. Both Mathews and junior Cecilia Brandon ended the game with three block assists, while sophomore Caroline Pridgen slammed down 10 kills.
"I feel like we worked really hard, but this is the same thing we have been going through so this is something we need to fix mentally and physically," said Brown.
UNCP took the early 9-5 lead in the first set, but rally serving by Sarah Guidry evened up the game at 10-10. Despite the Falcons using an 8-1 run, UNCP called a time out and came back on 12-5 run to control the lead for the rest of the game. The Braves suffered two errors on set point, but came up with the win on a serving error by the Falcons to take set one.
In set two, Montevallo took the early lead and held out for the remainder of set. A hard fought battle that resulted in a five-point run brought the Braves to within one point, but two block assists ended the game in the Falcons' favor.
Long volleys increased the intensity of the third set, but the Braves suffered 12 hitting errors and were unable to catch Montevallo as the Falcons went up 2-1. Briana Marquez broke open set four with seven-straight serves, but the Braves inched their way to within two points at the 23-21 mark, however, the Falcons closed out the game for the win with a pair of kills.
Montevallo was led by Katie Best with 12 kills, while Rebekah Phelps and Marquez tallied 11 and 10 kills.
UNCP will be back on Saturday to face Columbus State (6-9, 3-4) in a noon battle inside the English E. Jones Center in PBC play.
