WICHITA, Kan. — The Friends University Falcons came up just short against the Evangel University Valor in five sets in a tight KCAC matchup tonight (Oct. 21) inside the Garvey Center.
Down 2-1 overall and 21-20 in the fourth set,
Gabriella Lujan served four straight Friends points, with kills by
Erin Cheatum and
Erin Palyash plus two Evangel attack errors giving the Falcons a set point at 24-21. Evangel got back within 24-23 on an Abby Ferguson kill and a Brooke Daniels ace, but a ball-handling error closed the set for Friends, 25-23 to even the match.
After Evangel jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the decisive fifth set, the Falcons worked back to 6-6 behind a
Addison Fulton kill and a pair of Evangel attack errors, before the Valor scored the next four points, including a Simone Johnson kill and a Jersie Spears ace to jump ahead 10-6.
Gabbie Taylor and
Natalie Castillo added kills to trim the deficit to 11-8, and Castillo later made it 12-9, but the Valor pulled it out by scoring the final three points on kills by Johnson and Cienna Turner along with a Daniels ace to close the fifth set and the match 15-9.
With a back-and-forth opening set knotted at 15-15, the Valor scored three straight points to go in front 18-15. The Falcons answered with five consecutive points, the last four on
Daelyn McGregor's serve, including a block by
Alia Lanzen and Castillo for a 19-18 lead and another Evangel attack error that made it 20-18. The Valor came back to jump ahead 22-21, only to have the Falcons move to set point at 24-22 after an Evangel service error, an Palyash ace and a Taylor kill. But the Valor managed to take the final four points, including a service ace by Spears, to win the set 26-24.
The Falcons built an 8-3 lead in the second set after Taylor served an ace and Fulton blocked an Ashya Thompson attack, but the Valor scored the next six points, including two Jessica Pritchett aces, to take a 9-8 lead. The set stayed tight from there, with Friends getting kills from
Sofia Mekelburg, Fulton and Taylor before Evangel put together back-to-back points for an 18-16 lead. The Falcons responded with six straight points: an Evangel attack error started the run, Palyash tied the set with a kill from McGregor,
Sadie White and Palyash added kills, and White's block made it 22-18 as the Falcons went on to a 25-20 win to square the match at 1-1.
In keeping with the theme of the match, the third set went right down to the wire. With the Valor up 22-20, Mekelburg's kill and Palyash's ace tied the set at 22-22, and Friends later erased deficits at 24-22 and 25-24 with Cheatum's kill, an Evangel attack error and another kill by Mekelburg. The Falcons then took a 26-25 lead on another Evangel attack error, but a kill by Brooklyn Claxton tied it, a Friends setting error put Evangel back ahead, and Johnson's kill closed Evangel's 28-26 set win.
Iris Lozano came through with a career-high 30 digs, while Taylor finished with 11 kills, 19 digs and three service aces. Mekelburg posted 10 kills, 19 assists and 14 digs and Palyash tallied four service aces, seven kills and three total blocks.
Johnson led the Valor with 18 kills while adding four blocks. Addison Jones recorded 36 digs and Pritchett finished with 32 assists, 15 digs, eight kills and five blocks. Charlotte Hawkins added 13 kills and three blocks.
The Falcons will remain at home and host Tabor College Saturday evening (Oct. 24) at 6 pm.
