The North Greenville Trailblazers fell short to the Bobcats of Georgia College & State University Tuesday evening with a final score of 3-1 in Milledgeville, Georgia.
North Greenville dropped to 12-10 overall while the Bobcats improved to 7-16 overall.
North Greenville started the opening set with a pair of service aces from Samantha Ball, helping the Trailblazers build an early 4-1 advantage. Georgia College & State responded with an offensive surge, however, eventually pulling ahead and establishing control of the set. The Bobcats finished with 16 kills and a .325 hitting percentage, compared to 12 kills and a .170 percentage for NGU as GCSU would take the opening set 25-19.
The Trailblazers responded in the second set. North Greenville limited Georgia College & State to eight kills while forcing eight attack errors, holding the Bobcats to a .000 hitting percentage. NGU committed just three attack errors of its own and hit .200, pulling away for a convincing 25-16 victory to even the match at one set each.
Georgia College regained the advantage in the third set behind 15 kills and a .279 hitting percentage. North Greenville posted 13 kills but committed seven attack errors, finishing the set at .109. The Trailblazers remained within striking distance throughout the set before the Bobcats secured a 25-22 victory.
The fourth set proved to be another close battle as North Greenville nearly forced a fifth set. The Trailblazers recorded 13 kills but 10 attack errors limited NGU to a .081 hitting percentage. Georgia College countered with 12 kills and a .171 percentage, edging North Greenville 25-23 to close out the match.
Peyton Taylor led the Trailblazers offensively with 12 kills while hitting .229 on 35 attempts. Taylor also contributed nine digs, a service ace and two block assists.
Samantha Ball delivered another strong all-around performance, finishing with 11 kills, 10 digs and a match-high six service aces.Â
North Greenville will face the Braves of UNC Pembroke on Friday, October 16th at Hayes Gymnasium.
