Gaffney, S.C. – North Greenville volleyball dropped a closely contested heartbreaker on Tuesday night as the Limestone Saints escaped with a 3-2 (22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-22, 11-15) over the visiting Crusaders.

Brittany Tepedino led the charge with 16-kills as NGU fought back from two sets down to force a fifth set with the Saints. Kenzie Pierce finished with eight kills while Madison Pogue helped the cause with 49- assists. Pierce and Pogue both had 17-digs while Eve Little continued her solid freshman campaign with a team high 27-digs.

The Crusaders trailed 2-0 and faced being swept but kept hope alive with a comeback win in the third set. Three errors from the Saints helped the NGU cause late in the match while a Samantha Hebb kill set up NGU with game point. Another errors by the Saints gave the Crusaders their first win of the night.

The momentum carried over into the fourth frame when NGU jumped ahead early on. Limestone evened the score at 19-19 and later on at 21-21 but the Crusaders showed resolve late in the set when Kenzie Pierce forced the fifth set with a kill to give NGU the three point win.

The Crusaders fell behind by four in the final set but fought back to pull within one when a Pierce kill made it 7-6. NGU stayed close, but a late run from the Saints opened up a four-point deficit that proved to much to overcome for the Crusaders as the Saints earned the win and a split of the season series.

North Greenville fell to 7-11 overall and 6-8 in Conference Carolinas play with two games left in the regular season. NGU will wrap up the regular season slate this weekend with home games on Friday and Saturday. The Crusaders will host Mount Olive at 7pm on Friday night followed by a 1pm showdown with Barton on Saturday (Senior Day).