ANDERSON, S.C. --- Anderson University fought off one match point and scored the final three points of the contest as the Trojans rallied from a two-set deficit to win a five-set thriller over Tusculum College Friday night in South Atlantic Conference volleyball action from the Abney Athletic Center.
Anderson (9-6, 6-2 SAC) won the match by scores of 27-29, 18-25, 25-19, 25-18, 16-14.
Tusculum (7-5, 4-4 SAC) trailed 12-11 in the fifth set, but Aubrey Hawkins tied the frame with a kill and Cassie Born and Rachel Garnett posted block assists to give the Pioneers a 13-12 lead. A bad TC set tied the score at 13-13, but senior Sarah Bouley got the lead back for the visitors with a kill to move in front 14-13.
But a pair of Tusculum attack errors shifted the momentum to Anderson and Serena Jackson recorded the kill on match-point to secure the victory for the Trojans.
Marissa Mitter led AU with 22 kills to go along with 17 digs and a pair of blocks. Rachel Burts accounted for 14 kills, seven blocks and a .500 hitting percentage. Setter Emily Conlin dished out 59 assists and completed her double-double with 11 digs on the evening.
Tusculum's Mariah Lewis led the Pioneers with her 15 kills and a sizzling .560 hitting percentage. Born added 12 kills, 10 digs and five blocks, while Bouley tallied nine kills and six digs in the loss. The setter duo of Shannon Murphy and Hallie Zumack recorded 29 and 20 assists, respectively. Murphy also made 13 digs, while Zumack finished with 10. TC sophomore Melissa Mazur led all players with 37 digs, including 10 in the opening set.
The first set saw nine ties and seven lead changes as Lewis posted five kills in the frame as Tusculum fought off a pair of set-points and got key kills from Lewis and Born down the stretch as TC captured the set 29-27.
Tusculum closed the second set with an 8-2 run to win the frame 25-18 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Anderson overcame an early 9-6 deficit and utilized and 8-3 spurt to capture the third set 25-19. The Trojans led wire-to-wire in the fourth set and got four kills apiece from Burts and Kathryn Hughes to tie the match at two sets each.
Anderson took a 6-3 lead following kills from Hughes and Burts. Tusculum answered with a four straight points including a kill and a service ace from Welch as TC led 7-6. TC increased the lead to 9-7 after a Zumack ace, but Anderson followed with a 4-1 run to regain the lead at 11-10.
Anderson finished the night with 65 kills in 192 attempts with 23 errors for a .219 hitting percentage. Tusculum hit .161 on the night with 60 kills and edged the Trojans in digs by a 98-90 margin. AU posted 10 total blocks, while TC accounted for six.
The Pioneers will look to bounce back on Saturday as they travel to Newberry College for a 2 p.m. contest at Eleazer Arena.
