PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana College volleyball team started well during its conference matchups against Belhaven, but struggled to close the deal, dropping a pair of 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-11, 25-18 & 25-21, 25-27, 25-13, 25-18) decisions to the Blazers Tuesday night at H.O. West Fieldhouse.

Match 1 – Belhaven 3 (23, 25, 25, 25), Louisiana College 1 (25, 23, 11, 18)

LC dropped four of the first five points in set one before rallying to back to tie the set at 10-10 on a kill by Jaslyn Bright. After dropping the next three, LC again fought back to tie the score at 13-13 on a kill by Daja Bell. Another kill by Bell again tied the set at 14-14. LC would battle to take a 22-19 lead on a kill by Aniah Adams. After a kill by Bright gave LC a 23-22 lead, Belhaven tied the score, but then the Blazers committed a service error and then an illegal set gave the final two points to LC to close out the set 25-23 Wildcats.

The second set started even better for LC as Paris Babino got three service aces and two kills by Aniah Adams helped LC jump out to a 5-0 lead. But Belhaven scored off five of the next six rallies to get back within a point. After Belhaven had taken the lead, Abby Revell got the Wildcats back on level terms with a kill through a Blazer block attempt at 9-9. Revell tried to keep LC close with another kill that got LC to within 15-13, but Belhaven went on to score on eight of the next nine rallies to open a 23-14 lead. The Wildcats did rally in a big way, scoring on nine out of the next ten rallies as a Jaslyn Bright kill got LC back within a point at 24-23, but a service error ended the set in Belhaven's favor.

Belhaven tried to take control of the third set straight away by scoring six of the first eight points, but LC cut it to just a one-point deficit at 6-5 following an attack error by the Blazers. But after that it was all Belhaven as the Blazers scored ten of the next 14 points and finished off the set with a run of six straight points to take a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-11 win in the third set.

Again, it was the Blazers who started quick in the fourth set, scoring on five of the first seven rallies and nine of the first 14. But LC had a push in them, scoring five straight thanks to a pair of Aniah Adams kills and a pair of Lexie Sampson aces to take a 10-9 lead. But the Blazers answered with four of the next five as Belhaven slowly opened up the score and finished off the match 25-18 for the 3-1 final.

Abby Revell led the Wildcats in the first match with 13 kills. Aniah Adams added 12 kills, a block solo and a block assist. Paris Babino tallied 23 assists, five service aces, and eight digs. Leah Stamps finished the match with nine digs

Match 2 – Belhaven 3 (25, 25, 25, 25), Louisiana College 1 (21, 27, 13, 18)

Match two also started well enough for LC, getting kills from Aniah Adams, Paris Babino, and Abby Revell to jump out to a 3-1 lead. That lead got to 5-2 following kills by Jaslyn Bright and another by Revell and would jump out to a four-point lead after Sadi Jones and bright got back-to-back kills to make the score 12-8 Wildcats. But Belhaven answered with four straight to tie the match and the race to 25 was on from there. A kill by Sadi Jones gave LC a 19-18 lead, but Belhaven score the next three and finished out the set on a 7-2 run to take set one 25-21.

The second set couldn't have started much less promising for LC as Belhaven quickly jumped out to a 6-1 lead before Sadi Jones slowed the Blazer momentum. But the Wildcats would slowly pull the deficit back as a kill by Jaslyn Bright made it a one-point set at 13-12. Trailing 16-14, Sadi Jones got back-to-back kills to tie the match, then Jaslyn Bright put the Wildcats ahead with an ace. An attack error by Belhaven made it 18-16 before the Blazers got back on the scoreboard. Trailing 24-23, Abby Revell got into a spike and got the kill that tied the match to force extra rallies. With Belhaven up 25-24, a bad set tied the match and then Daja Bell blocked back a Blazer attack for set point, which Abby Revell secured with a kill to give the set to the Wildcats 27-25 and tie the match at 1-1.

LC jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the third set off of a kill by Aniah Adams, and then Jaslyn Bright added another kill to her tally to reestablish the two-point lead at 4-2. Belhaven would take a 6-5 lead before LC scored four straight as back-to-back kills by Sadi Jones and Abby Revell gave LC its largest lead of the set at 9-6. But things turned against LC quickly as Belhaven rattled off three-straight before LC scored again and then another run of eight-straight to open the score to get to the 25-13 win and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Blazers jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the fourth set before LC rallied with five-straight points, which included an ace and two kills by Sadi Jones as well as a kill by Jaslyn Bright that gave LC an 8-5 lead. After Belhaven cut it to 8-7, the Wildcats rattles off four in a row to open a five-point lead following a Blazer attack error. After a three-point run by Belhaven, LC got a kill from Aniah Adams and an ace from Leah Stamps to push the advantage to 14-10. Belhaven scored six straight to take the lead, though LC would tie it twice more as a kill by Sadi Jones evened the score at 17-17. But Belhaven scored the next five and finished the set on an 8-1 to close out the set and the match.

Sadi Jones led the Wildcats with 16 kills, two aces, a block assist, and six digs. Aniah Adams added 14 kills as well as two solo blocks and a block assist. Paris Babino added 32 more assists to her total, along with a service ace and nine digs. Jaslyn Bright also had seven kills, two aces, and 19 digs.

The Wildcats (1-9, 1-9 ASC) head out on the road on Friday for the first of the final two road trips of the season when they go to Marshall, Texas to take on East Texas Baptist. Opening serve against the Tigers (6-5, 5-5 ASC) is set for 4:30 P.M. at Ornelas Gymnasium.