Lady Eagles Fall to Trojans in Three Sets

The Williams Baptist University volleyball team lost to Hannibal-LaGrange 25-16, 25-18, 25-21 in an American Midwest Conference matchup Friday night at the Southland-Mabee Center.

Tinleigh Ruhman and Krista Jones led the way for the Eagles with five kills each, while Laykin Harcom added 15 assists and eight digs. Faith Raymond collected nine digs to lead WBU in the category, while Alonna Thomas has two service aces. 

Down 2-0 in the match, Williams played with a renewed vigor in the third set and forced the Trojans to the brink with a strong effort on the defensive side to keep the attack of Hannibal-LaGrange at arm's length.

The Trojans came out and took a quick 7-3 advantage, but the Eagles erased the deficit and tied the score at 10-10 after an attack error by Ariana Huitron. HLGU built the advantage back to four points, but Williams again quickly closed the gap to tie the match at 15-15 on a kill by Hope Raymond.

The teams continued to trade rallies and points with the Trojans clinging to a two-point edge throughout much of the later part of the set. A kill by Allison Murphy pushed the advantage to three points and an ace and another kill gave the visitors a 23-18.

The Eagles again had another run in them as Darcy Broglin and Dayshia Espinosa connected on back-to-back kills to get within 23-21, but the Trojans were able to close out the match on back-to-back kills of their own to complete the sweep. 

The Lady Eagles pick back up on Friday, Oct. 6 in an AMC road matchup against Central Baptist College. First serve is set for 6 p.m.