ATHENS, W.Va. — Fairmont State women's volleyball (23-5, 11-1 MEC) lost to Concord (17-9, 9-3 MEC) 3-2 on Friday at Carter Center, with set scores of 22-25, 26-24, 25-23, 21-25 and 14-16. The Falcons finished with 73 kills and 107 digs, while the Mountain Lions had a 17-9 advantage in blocks and hit .147 to the Falcons' .127.
The Falcons nearly erased a late eight-point deficit in the first set, winning seven of eight rallies to move from 19-12 down to 20-19 before the Mountain Lions held on for a 25-22 result. The Falcons steadied themselves after a 3-0 opening hole, getting kills from
Kailyn Connelly,
Averi Martin and
Josie Nobbe and a block by
Elena Thompson and Connelly to stay within 11-9.
The Mountain Lions then scored six straight points to push the margin to 18-10, but Thompson and
Averi Martin started the Falcons' response with back-to-back kills, and later kills from Connelly, Nobbe and
Natalie Zemba helped pull the visitors back within one at 20-19.
Alexa Martin and Zemba teamed for a block to make it 21-20, and late kills from Thompson and Connelly kept the Falcons close before the Mountain Lions closed the set at 25-22.
The Falcons secured the second set 26-24 after the Mountain Lions tied it at 24-24, with Nobbe putting the Falcons back in front and
Averi Martin closing the set with a kill from
Belle DeVall. After falling behind 0-2 and 1-3, the Falcons worked back through kills from Connelly and Thompson and a block by Zemba and Thompson before moving ahead 7-4.
The Mountain Lions answered to take an 8-7 lead, but the Falcons responded with a Zemba kill and a Thompson service ace, then later built the margin to 20-15 behind points that included Nobbe and
Averi Martin kills and blocks involving Connelly,
Averi Martin and
Alexa Martin. The Mountain Lions pushed back from 24-21 to tie the set, but the Falcons took the final two points to finish the set.
The Falcons pulled out the third set 25-23, erasing a late 23-22 deficit by scoring the final three points. Early in the set, the Falcons fell behind 4-1 but answered with six of the next seven points, getting four kills from Thompson in that push to move ahead 7-5.
After the Mountain Lions retook the lead at 9-7, the Falcons responded again with a stretch featuring kills by Thompson,
Alexa Martin, Connelly,
Janai Turner and Nobbe to go up 13-10. The Mountain Lions then turned that into an 18-14 deficit for the Falcons, but the visitors recovered to tie the set at 18-18 behind a Zemba/
Averi Martin block and kills by Zemba and
Averi Martin. The set was still tied at 23-23 after a Connelly kill from
Zoe Ringer, and the Falcons finished it on Thompson's service ace and another Connelly kill from Ringer.
The Falcons nearly erased a 20-9 deficit in the fourth set, getting back within 23-21 before the Mountain Lions scored the final two points to take the set 25-21. Fairmont State had to work out of a 4-0 start by the Mountain Lions, with
Averi Martin recording kills for the visitors' first three points and Connelly later cutting the margin to 9-5. The Mountain Lions pushed ahead 20-9, but Thompson stopped that stretch with a kill and Connelly added another as the Falcons began to close the gap.
Ashton Henrich then served four straight Falcons points from 21-13 to 21-17, a run that included consecutive
Baylie Ostvig kills and a block by Zemba and Nobbe. After the Mountain Lions moved back to 23-18, the Falcons got a Zemba-
Averi Martin block, a Martin kill and a Mountain Lions attack error to pull within two before a Chloe Thompson kill and a Maddie Stull-Jasmine Anderson block ended the set.
The Falcons moved within a point of taking the fifth set after turning a 12-10 deficit into a 14-12 lead, but the Mountain Lions scored the final four points to take the set 16-14. Fairmont State opened the set with kills from Nobbe and
Averi Martin off
Belle DeVall assists and built a 7-1 lead, with Martin adding three more kills during the early stretch.
The Mountain Lions worked back behind a run on Gretchen Davila's serve, tying the set at 10-10 and moving ahead 12-10 before Nobbe answered with a kill. The Falcons followed with a Mountain Lions attack error and back-to-back Nobbe kills from Ringer to reach 14-12, but the Mountain Lions closed with two kills and two Falcons attack errors to finish the deciding set.
Averi Martin led the Falcons with 19 kills and 21.0 points while hitting .375 and adding four block assists. Nobbe recorded 18 kills, 14 digs and 18.5 points. Grace Devall collected 29 digs and added four assists.
Belle DeVall finished with 35 assists, 14 digs and one service ace.
Fairmont State returns to campus on Monday, October 26 for a match against Davis & Elkins College. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.
