The Tusculum College volleyball team picked up its second five-set victory in less than 18 hours with a 3-2 victory at Brevard College in a South Atlantic Conference match Saturday afternoon.

Megan Hasse had a season-high 20 kills and Danae Stauffer had 14 kills for the Pioneers (15-7, 10-5 SAC), who won by scores of 25-17, 21-25, 22-25, 25-13 and 15-11 over the Tornados (6-14, 2-13 SAC) after a 3-2 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne Friday night. Tusculum is now 8-2 in five-set matches this season.

Fatima Gharachorloo paced the Tornados with 19 kills and added 14 digs, but Brevard finished with 30 hitting errors as a team and hit a combined .039 in the final two sets after jumping to a 2-1 lead over Tusculum.

Hasse hit .459 and Kassie Voelker hit .444 with nine kills in 18 attacks for the Pioneers, who had 10 service aces and eight blocks as a team in the match. Ashley Sarmiento recorded a team-high 22 assists to go along with 13 digs and four aces for the Pioneers, with Hannah Berling adding 13 assists and Caitlyn Dean nine to go along with a team-high 17 digs.

Tusculum dashed out to a quick 7-2 lead in the first set, but Brevard came back with six straight points to take an 8-7 advantage. The Pioneers built their lead to 18-13 on a kill by Stauffer, then ran off six unanswered points to close the set including a pair of aces from Sarmiento and two Tornado hitting errors.

The Pioneers built a 13-10 lead in the second set, only to see the Tornados tie the score with three straight points. Tusculum regained the lead at 17-15 on a kill from Hasse, but Brevard bounced back to gain the lead for good at 21-20 on the first of back-to-back kills from Gharachorloo en route to evening the match at one set apiece.

For the third time in as many sets, Tusculum got the early lead in set three at 6-2, only to see Brevard rally to tie the score at 9-9. After a service error by the Tornados gave the Pioneers a 10-9 lead, the home team scored five straight points to go on top 14-10. Tusculum pulled within in point several times in the latter stages of the set, but could not deliver the equalizer point and the Tornados had a 2-1 set lead.

In search of the victory, Brevard was on equal footing with Tusculum through the first half of the fourth set, trailing 11-9 following a kill from Gharachorloo. From there, it was all Pioneers as Sarmiento delivered six straight points on her serve, including two more aces to go with two kills from Stauffer. The Pioneers wrapped up the fourth set with five straight points, with two kills from Hasse to go with kills by Jaida Allen and Voelker.

The fifth set saw the Pioneers score the first three points, only to have the Tornados come back with four in a row to take a 4-3 lead. Tusculum broke a 6-6 deadlock with three straight points, then alternated points with Brevard until back-to-back kills by Rachel Garnett and Voelker gave the Pioneers a 14-10 advantage. Tusculum finished off Brevard on a block from Garnett and Voelker to escape with the five-set win.

Joining Gharachorloo in double figures in kills for Brevard were Erin Rollins with 13 and Camille Cameron with 12. Aleksandra Vrvilo had a match-high 23 digs for the Tornados, while Kayla Hanus had 12 digs to go along with 51 assists.

The Pioneers will be back in action on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Catawba.