Box Score LAKELAND, Fla.-- The Fire suffered a heartbreaking loss to Webber on the road Wednesday night. Southeastern was up 2-1 after the third set, but the Warriors fought their way back in five sets to maintain their perfect record against conference opponents (21-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 15-8).
To start the game, the Fire went on an 11-1 run, led by eight straight serves and one of
Kelsey Morton's 13 kills. The Warriors tried to claw their way back, cutting the SEU lead to three, but a plethora of Webber errors enabled the Fire to take the first set 25-21.
Southeastern began the second set the same way they started the match, utilizing Webber's errors to jump out to a 5-1 lead. This advantage grew to seven points (18-11) thanks to multiple kills by junior Uche Kojo, who had 12 total kills and a .333 hitting percentage; however, the Warriors rallied, using a 14-4 run to win the second set by a score of 25-22.
It was the Fire's turn to rally in the third set. After trailing by six early, Southeastern battled to tie the game at 16. The Fire then fell behind by three late in the set, but used blocks by
Kaitlin Boyd and
Kelsey Morton to fuel another run to win the set 25-23 and go up in the match 2-1.
Southeastern outhit the Warriors in both sets they won (.139 to .070 in the first and .286 to .257 in the third), but Webber's attack started firing on all cylinders late in the match. Nikki McDaniel recorded 22 kills for the Warriors, while Carlee Baxter added 50 assists to contribute to the comeback. On defense, five Webber players had double-digit dig numbers.
Webber had 14 kills to jump out to a ten point advantage in the fourth set. The Fire were able to cut the deficit to three, using seven of
Lindsey Fleming's team-high 39 assists, but the lead proved too large to overcome. SEU dropped the set 25-21.
In the fifth set, Webber recorded nine kills in comparison to Southeastern's five, leading to a match-high .292 hitting percentage. The Warriors took the final set by a score of 15-8 and completed the comeback.
Alyssa Prescott, who had an unprecedented 32 digs in the contest, tried to keep the Fire in the match on the defensive side of the ball. Southeastern also tried to slow the Webber offense through their effective blocking. The Fire registered thirteen blocks on the night, but were unable to stunt the Warriors' attack in the fourth and fifth sets.
The Fire will be back in action for their last regular season game at home on November 5
th against Johnson & Wales at 2pm.
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