WILMORE, Ky. – In front of a great and high-energy crowd on Thursday evening, the Asbury University volleyball team fell just short in five sets to the University of the Cumberlands (25-17, 19-25, 25-19, 16-25, 13-15).
Asbury slips to 0-2 on the year with the loss.

As a team, Asbury finished with 51 kills, 44 assists, and 78 digs. AU's hitting percentage for the contest was .099.

A strong opening set put the Eagles ahead one set to none. The Eagles never trailed in the set and finished with 10 kills and a .167 hitting percentage. Back-to-back kills from Mari-Grace Alexander rounded out the set with AU on top 25-17.

Cumberlands came back and took the second set despite AU finishing the set with 13 kills. Asbury tied up the set at 11-11 but the Patriots' 6-0 run pushed the lead back to 17-11 and the Eagles were unable to close the deficit.

A back and forth third set provided the exact same score as the second set but this time in favor of Asbury. AU jumped ahead 11-5 but the Patriots would close the lead down to just 18-16 later on. Once again, back-to-back kills from Alexander finished off the set and put the Eagles ahead two sets to one.

UC would prevail in the fourth set after climbing out to an early lead. Asbury tried to rally back in the set but were never able to cut the lead down to more than a three-point margin.

In the final set, Cumberlands took an 11-5 lead. After a couple of  timeouts, the Eagles made a late comeback attempt and trimmed the lead down to just 14-13. However, the Patriots would take the next point to win the set and the match.

AU had several strong performances up front with Mari-Grace Alexander and Lizzy Rempel each posting 12 kills. Senior Julia Thompson also stepped up and finished the match with 11 kills in total.

Freshmen Hailey Jordan and Taegan Montgomery led the Eagles in assists with 23 and 13 respectively. Jordan also posted six kills, eight digs, and two service aces.

Jessie Sandefur notched a team-high 34 digs, while Charis Wieschhaus finished with 18 and Kandace Eligio added 11.

Alexander, Thompson, Bethany Laue, and Bethany Fye all collected two block assists apiece. Fye registered six kills and five assists as well.

Asbury will be back in play next Friday in Nashville, Tenn. for the Music City Invitational on September 6-7.