SE Drops Five Set Heartbreaker at UAM

MONTICELLO, Ark. – Southeastern got a pair of 20 kills performances from Julia Benford and Abby Jameson as well as a 31 dig outing by Caitlin Cosby, but it was not enough to pick up the road win as the Savage Storm fell at Arkansas-Monticello 3-2.
 
The loss drops SE to 8-15 overall and 1-9 in Great American Conference play heading into a 1 p.m. matchup with Southern Arkansas in Magnolia, Ark., on Saturday afternoon.
 
The match boiled down to a back-and-forth fifth set in which Southeastern took an 8-6 lead into the changeover and held off a rally to find themselves serving for match point at 14-12.
 
UAM would take three-straight points before the Storm survived a UAM match point and the teams would serve for three more match points combined before the Cotton Blossoms would break an 18-18 tie with back-to-back kills to take the set 20-18 and the match 3-2.
 
Benford turned in her best effort of the season in both kills and hitting percentage as she finished with a match-high 23 kills and hit .541 in the process.
 
Abby Jameson finished with 21 kills, her second 20-kill effort in the last three matches, while Karine Cavalcante reached double-digits as well with 13 kills.
 
Alissa Benson had an all-around night as she dished out 58 assists on the offensive side while completing a double-double with 21 digs on the defense end.
 
It was the freshman Cosby who again wowed on defense despite the outcome as she finished off her second 30-dig match of the season, racking up 31 digs.
 
Benson's 21 digs was second in line, while Cavalcante picked up a double-double with 16, as did Jameson who added 12 digs.
 
Benson and Arianna Baker each had two blocks.
 
UAM edged out the Storm in the first set in a teeter-totter affair, taking three of the final four points to win 25-23.
 
SE used a 10-1 run midway through the second set to turn a four point deficit into a five point lead before holding on for a 25-21 win to even the match at 1-1.
 
A pair of significant runs in the third set would swing the match back in UAM's favor with a 25-17 win to go up 2-1.
 
Southeastern used another 10-1 run in the fourth set to turn the tide and pull away with a 25-16 win to knot the match at 2-2 and set up the aforementioned fifth set.