HENDERSON — The Freed-Hardeman University Lady Lion volleyball team battled the first of two Mid-South Conference opponents in back-to-back days against the Georgetown Tigers. Battling back each set, the Lady Lions were unable to reach 25 first, falling 3-0 (25-15, 27-25, 25-11) on Friday.
The Lady Lions (9-11, 0-3 MSC) fell behind quickly with the Tigers notching back-to-back service aces. After
Teodora Dacic recorded a kill, the Tigers responded by scoring five unanswered points and setting the Lady Lions into a 7-2 deficit. Eventually trailing 11-3,
Laila Howard helped anchor the first of the comebacks, with
Marija Milic and
Ana Coker doing the heavy lifting. Both recorded kills and a tandem block before a second Milic kill forced a GC timeout with the score 11-8. FHU continued to push points, with
Alyssa Austin's service ace being followed by a
Morgan Jackson kill to pull the Lady Lions within one point. Ultimately, the Tigers recorded a set of 5-0 runs to win the first set 25-15.
The second set began in a similar way to the first with Georgetown (14-6, 1-2 MSC) scoring three points, before FHU answered with three of their own. The set was truly back and forth when, beginning at 10-7 in favor of Georgetown, the teams went back-and-forth with scoring until GC took a 14-11 advantage. With the Tigers on set point, Milic kept the set going with a kill to tie it at 24-24. Her countryman Dacic later tied the set at 25-25 with a kill, but the Tigers managed to score the last two points to win the set 27-25.
It was another fast start by the Tigers in the third set, setting down back-to-back service aces before going on a 4-0 run.
Becca Heineman managed a dump kill to break the spell and return to service. Coker tallied a kill before a Heineman service ace, but Georgetown scored six unanswered points.
Hope Breen joined with a pair of kills, but the Tigers answered with an 8-1 run to close out the match with a 25-15 set win.
The Lady Lions were led by
Marija Cabadaj's seven kills, followed by six from
Morgan Jackson.
Alex Howard and
Laila Howard shared the team high of nine digs each.
Marija Milic led four four block assists.
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Up Next
It's a short turnaround with the Lady Lions hosting the No. 21 Cumberlands Patriots on October 3 at 1:00 p.m.
