Rocky Mount, N.C. - The NCWC volleyball team dropped a highly contested match with Methodist University by a 3-1 score on Tuesday night in Everett Gym. Prior to the match, head coach Vicky Gentile honored the two senior members of her squad: Samantha Morton and Emily McLain.

The Bishops got off to a slow start in the opening set, which saw the Monarchs post 25-14 win. Wesleyan came alive in the second, eventually forcing set points at 24-23, 25-24, 26-25, and 27-26. After fighting off all four, kills by MU's Cheyenne Pump and Megan Andrews flipped the momentum in the Monarchs' favor and set the stage for a 29-27 win and 2-0 lead in the match.

The Bishops honored Morton and McLain between sets two and three and returned with a vengeance in the third, posting a 25-19 win behind the blocking of McLain. Methodist proceeded to race out to a sizable lead in the fourth, 20-11. Wesleyan, however, did not go down without a fight as freshman Jordan Sakry and sophomore Haileigh Riesenbeck pushed four points each to get the Bishops back in it. Down 23-22, a costly attack error by the Bishops resulted in set point for the Monarchs, and although Wesleyan would fight off one match point via a McLain kill, MU (14-11, 7-7 USA South) would seal the victory with Ashley Beardsley's 16th kill of the night.

Freshman Callie Cline led Wesleyan with 13 kills, while sophomore Autumn Spence added 12 kills and posted a .522 hitting percentage. Morton reached double-digit kills with 10, and McLain added five more blocks to her career total, which currently ranks 3rd all-time in program history (321). Defensively, libero Hannah Hulls had 16 digs.

Wesleyan (8-18, 4-11 USA South) wraps up conference play this Saturday with a tri-match at Averett University.