Box Score A late comeback effort against a scrappy Meridian team unfortunately came up short Monday night as the Bears fell 19-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-22, 10-15 on sophomore night. Prior to the match, the Bears honored sophomores Gracie Amacker and Haley Eckert.
Following the match, Southwest head coach Chris Laird said that the play of his team was too little too late.
The Bears (5-18, 2-10 MACCC) got off to a good start taking a 10-5 lead over the Eagles in the opening set, but not long afterward, they watched that lead slowly shrink.
With the score tied at 19, the Bears tried to finish strong, but the Eagles scored the last six points to take the first set.
In the second set as both teams battled hard with neither leading by more than three through the first half of the frame.
Southwest got a huge boost from Eckert as she was responsible for five of the first ten points in the set with four coming on kills and the fifth on a block assist along with Tierra Martin. She later added an ace before Abby Greenlee recorded her third and fourth kills of the set, pacing the Bears. Down the stretch, however, Meridian went on another run to claim the second set.
Southwest got off to a strong start in Set 3 as a pair of kills from Eckert was followed by an ace from the sophomore. Despite this, the Eagles rallied to pull ahead at 19-17. But the Bears finished strong as a pair of Saylor Hammond kills were bookends to a 5-2 run for the hosts who claimed the set.
Another strong start in Set 4 helped the Bears maintain the momentum. Kills from Martin, Reagan Robinson and Berta Soules were complemented by an ace from Hattie Tynes as Southwest set the tone. Even though the Eagles later rallied once again, the Bears held on to take the fourth set setting up the fifth and final.
Despite Southwest jumping ahead 4-3, the Bears lost focus as the Eagles scored the next nine points and held on in the end to claim the set and the match.
Southwest is back in action on Wednesday with a road contest at Itawamba beginning at 5 p.m.
