HENDERSON — Competing at home for the first time in nearly a month, the Lady Lions nearly completed a reverse sweep, but ultimately fell to the (RV) Fisk (Tenn.) University Lady Bulldogs 3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 16-25, 15-7). Celebrating her birthday,
Marija Cabadaj registered 19 kills, the most by a Lady Lion this season and her personal best.
Neither the Lady Lions (8-8) nor the Lady Bulldogs would hold a lead larger than two points a majority of the first set until
Allie Lowhorn and
Olivia Saint recorded back-to-back tandem blocks in the middle of the frame to give FHU a 15-12 lead while forcing a Fisk timeout. The guests promptly answered to side out before Cabadaj tallied two of her kills to keep FHU in the lead. With a small margin of error, a service ace and an FHU attack error later in the set flipped the script to give Fisk the lead. The visitors rattled off four unanswered points to take a 24-20 lead before FHU answered with a run of their own to make it 24-23. A final kill from Fisk finished the opening set with a 25-23 score in favor of the Lady Bulldogs.Â
As if the first set was not close enough, Freed-Hardeman and Fisk (15-4) leveled the scores 15 times and traded leads six times in the second. The biggest point swing came fat the start when the Lady Bulldogs scored four unanswered points to take a 9-6 lead. Cabadaj led the charge with a set of kills surrounding an
Alyssa Austin service ace to knot the score at nine. Neither team would hold an advantage of more than a single point until a three-rally swing by Fisk made it a 17-14 score late in the set.
Laila Howard notched back-to-back aces to make it 23-23, but Fisk was able to score the final two points to take a two-set lead.
The comeback began strong for FHU, with the Lady Lions winning the first five points of the third frame. Fisk would continue to make small runs, with a four-point swing tying the set at 10-10. The Lady Lions took advantage of three errors before
Cate Schroer's kill gave FHU a 19-14 lead. Kills from Saint and Cabadaj put FHU on set point, but the Lady Bulldogs kept the set alive before Saint's kill forced a fourth set with a 25-22 win for the home team.
It was again all FHU at the start of the fourth set with
Audrey Satterfield connecting for a kill, followed by kills from Cabadaj and
Ana Coker. Sitting with an 11-9 advantage, the Lady Lions began seeing double. Satterfield and Coker teamed up for back-to-back blocks before Austin landed consecutive service aces to put the Lady Lions on top 15-9. Freed-Hardeman continued to push points until
Teodora Dacic slammed home the kill to win the set 25-16 and demand a fifth and decisive set.
The longest point run of the match came at the worst time for the Lady Lions. After
Becca Heineman's service ace put FHU on top 4-1, Fisk would score 10 unanswered points to stun the Lady Lions. Late kills from Dacic and Saint narrowed the gap, but the Lady Bulldogs slammed the door to reach 15 first to win the set 15-7 and the match 3-2.
Marija Cabadaj led all scorers with 19 kills on 39 attempts. Right behind her were
Ana Coker's 12 kills and
Teodora Dacic's 11. The 6-2 system of setters
Alyssa Austin and
Becca Heineman played out well with four different attackers getting 20 or more attempts in the match.
Allie Lowhorn led at the net with five blocks, while a highlight of the match was
Audrey Satterfield's first action of the season where she amassed four blocks to go with her three kills.
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Up Next
The Lady Lions flip the page while again hitting the highway. The Mid-South Conference season opens with FHU visiting Lindsey Wilson on September 25 before traveling to face Campbellsville on September 26.
