[Volleyball] Volleyball Falls To Reinhardt in Home Opener

LAURINBURG, NC - The St. Andrews University women's volleyball team dropped a hard-fought four-set match to conference division rival Reinhardt University (Ga.) in SAU's home opener Tuesday evening.

Reinhardt 3, SAU 1

Reinhardt (5-1, 1-0) came out strong in the first set hitting .233 on 11 kills and pulled away after a tight set to win 25-18 before the Lady Knights came back to take a competitive second set holding on to win 26-24 after leading the entire game. After leading midway through the third set 19-12, Reinhardt stormed back to steal the set 26-24 and take a huge two sets to one lead. SAU had more kills in each of the middle sets as well including 15 in game two and 11 in game three but were outhit in game four 13-8 as RU rolled to the 25-18 match win. 

Senior middle blocker Kiah Cheatham (SR/Kalamazoo, MI) had a quality game hitting .217 with 8 kills, five digs, two aces, one block and one assist while senior RS Andrea Navarro (SR/Salinas, CA) added 6 kills and hit .222 while also adding four assisted blocks.

Senior outside hitter Tessa Smith (SR/Jacksonville, FL), recorded another huge double-double leading the team with 15 kills and 19 digs, her 3rd double of the season so far. Senior middle Lindsey Wagner (SR/Austin, TX) also recorded 8 kills on just 3 errors to hit a team-best .227 with 5 blocks.

Sophomore setter Shalia Powell (SO/Dayton, NV) also led the team with 20 assists and 7 digs while fellow sophomore setter Brooke Thomas (SO/Brunswick, GA) had 14 assists and five digs. Senior libero/DS Austin Payne (SR/Kingsport, TN) then added 16 digs while freshman DS/libero Karina Lozada (FR/Bayamon, Puerto Rico) played well with 6 digs, two assists, and an ace.

St. Andrews (2-3, 0-1) will now continue their week-long homestand by hosting AAC South Division foe Allen (S.C.) University (1-1) on Thursday at 6:30 PM.