After four sets the University of Alabama in Huntsville earned its fourth Gulf South Conference win of the season with a 3-1 victory at home against Mississippi Christian.
The Chargers (12-2, 4-1 GSC) secured an opening set win, 25-14, while outpacing the visiting Choctaws (6-11, 3-3) with an 11-7 kill advantage while limiting mistakes. UAH committed just five attack errors to Mississippi Christian's 10. The Choctaws took the early lead to begin the set, however, with a 5-1 advantage before the Chargers answered back. UAH pushed ahead on a 11-1 run to take a 12-6 lead punctuated by four kills from Mary Grace Bundrant, Kayla Ward, Emily Redman and Amelia Smith as well as blocks from Ward, Redman and Smith. The Chargers continued to push their momentum while holding the Choctaws at bay while Ward closed out the set with a final kill.
Similar to the first set, Mississippi Christian took the opening exchanges to take a 2-0 lead before UAH began to open up its offense to take a 6-3 lead after three straight points with kills from Cooper Garrett and Redman, and a service ace from Mary George Vandergriff. The Choctaws, though, mounted a comeback effort to keep the score close through the majority of the set before pulling ahead late with a 7-0 run to close out the set, 25-20.
With the set knotted at 1-1, both sides traded points with the Choctaws holding the early advantage. The Chargers, however, came back from an 8-4 deficit to tie the score and push their opponents the remainder of the set before breaking free in the final exchanges. With Mississippi Christian pulling ahead, 21-19, UAH responded by ripping off five straight points with Smith and Ella Schumacher recording kills, Redman a service ace and Ward a block to take a 24-21 lead. While the Choctaws scored twice more, a final kill from Ward closed out Set 3 with a 25-23 UAH advantage.
The fourth set began with Mississippi Christian controlling the tempo as it took a 9-2 lead to open it up. UAH, though, incrementally chipped away at the Choctaws' lead before finally taking a 15-14 lead with seven straight points. From that point on, neither side relented with two points being the largest lead for either side before UAH closed out the set and match with three straight points to take the 25-21 Set 4 win with Ward hitting her third set-winning kill of the match.
IN THE STATS
COMING UP
UAH is home against the GSC leading West Alabama at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
