FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan College Volleyball team dropped both ends of their conference tri-match at Methodist University on Saturday. Averett rallied from a set down to top the Bishops in 5 sets while MU edged the Bishops in four.

AU 3, NCWC 0

Averett used 17 kills to win the first set 25-21 even as the Bishops hit .226 with 11 kills. Wesleyan then won the next set 25-20 in 12 kills to even the match. A tight 3rd set saw the Bishops eke it out 25-21 behind 14 kills hitting .297. The fourth set saw the Cougars dominate en route to a 25-12 win on 18 kills before Averett led the entire way in the 5th set to take it 15-9.

Averett improved to 5-10 with the win while Wesleyan dropped to 6-9 on the day with the defeats.

Senior Middle Hannah Thrasher led Wesleyan with 13 kills while hitting .458 with 6 blocks. Sophomore right side Sydney Barnwell also added 11 kills with 3 blocks, 3 digs, and 2 assists while junior OH Callie Cline had 6 kills, 6 blocks, and 12 digs and hit .200. She also went over 1,000 career digs in the weekend match as well.

Junior libero Sam Butensky led with 17 digs along with 2 kills and an ace while senior setter Haileigh Riesenbeck had 21 assists, 7 digs, and two aces. Freshman OH Aubrey Nicholson also had 6 kills and 6 digs with a team-best 3 aces.

MU 3, NCWC 1

Methodist squeaked out a close first set 25-23 even as the Bishops had more kills than the Monarchs. Wesleyan then dominated the second set 25-14 with 8 kills hitting .222. Unfortunately, Methodist would then control the next two sets to take the match 25-14 and 25-19.

Barnwell led the Bishops with 11 kills and 3 blocks while Thrasher had 6 kills and hit .400 with 3 blocks. Nicholson also played well with 8 kills, 4 digs and an ace while Butensky had 21 digs ti lead the team as the libero along with an ace and an assist. Senior Kelly Ammons and Riesenbeck combined for 31 assists while Riesenbeck also added a kill, 2 aces, and 7 digs. Sophomore middle Lauren Weaver also had 5 kills and 5 blocks in the match as well.

Wesleyan is now 1-2 in the conference and 6-9 overall and will next return home to host Meredith College at 7:00 PM on Tuesday night.