WALESKA, Ga.— The Montreat volleyball team went on the road to Georgia Tuesday night to take on the Reinhardt University Eagles in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) contest. Following three sets of action, the Cavs found themselves on the wrong end of a sweep, moving to 7-6 overall and 4-6 in the AAC.
 
A handful of unforced errors by both teams had the squads even at four early in the opening frame. From there, offense prevailed as the Cavaliers and the Eagles combined for 14 straight kills without an attacking miscue. Reinhardt led 8-5; however, Montreat immediately rebounded, utilizing four kills from Kamryn Wolf and two each from Katie Dickey and Shalice Lynch to go up 16-12. The Cavs grabbed a 19-16 advantage and Wolf ended the set with seven kills, but it wasn't enough to hold off a charging RU side who eventually took a 1-0 edge in the match with a slim 26-24 set win.
 
The second set featured another back-and-forth frame as the teams battled for the upper hand until midway through the second. With the score knotted at 14 points apiece, the Eagles used a swift 10-0 run to gain firm control. Despite a pair of points from the visitors thanks to two Reinhardt attacking mistakes, a dominant hitting advantage (.229 to .000) handed the Eagles a 2-0 lead following a 25-16 triumph in the second.
 
Needing a set win to stay alive in the contest, Montreat immediately jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the third frame. Reinhardt (15-3, 8-2 AAC) flipped the script with a 5-1 stretch that put the home team up 7-5, and, although the Cavaliers pulled within a single point of their counterparts eight times during the set, a short 4-0 spurt by RU enabled the Eagles to go up 21-16. In the end, errors at key moments prevented the Cavs from overcoming the deficit as they dropped the final frame 25-21.

"Ultimately we have to find a way to utilize more of our offense. We have all the pieces, we just need to keep building consistency," said head coach Brittany Carpenter. She added, "We know what we need to work on going into the rest of this week and are looking forward to getting back in the gym."
 
Overall, Reinhardt edged Montreat in most statistical categories, including kills (37-32), hitting percentage (.167 to .060), aces (5-4) and total blocks (9.0-3.0). The Cavaliers did outdo RU in digs (53-52). Individually, Wolf captained all players with 15 kills, while the Lambertville, Mich. native registered her sixth double-double of the year with 13 digs. Dickey followed Wolf with 12 kills and nine digs, while Wible notched a team-best 20 digs. Reese Davis (16) and Katie Alexander (14) each tallied double-digit assist matches.
 
Volleyball returns to McAlister Gymnasium for its next competition, a home match versus St. Andrews University on Saturday. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m.