PIKEVILLE, Ky. – The University of Pikeville women's volleyball team began the home portion of its schedule Thursday night by losing to visiting Mountain State University 3-1. Despite playing MSU close in the first and third game and winning the second, the Bears could not overcome the Cougars in the fourth and final game.

Game One showed just how close these teams are as the Bears kept it close before MSU pulled away late. Despite stopping the Cougars twice on game point the Bears fell 25-21.

Game Two featured an early lead for the Bears, who forced a Cougar timeout by going up 7-2. Though MSU rallied to take a 23-19 lead, the Bears again showed their unwillingness to go away easily by fighting back to tie the game at 24-24. The Bears scored the next two points to take a 26-24 victory.

Game Three was a slow start for the Bears, who fell behind 4-0 early. A swing in the momentum brought the Bears to the lead, but they fell back into 9-9 tie with the Cougars, at which point Coach Anna Bevins called timeout to allow her team to collect itself.

It's been said that an indicator of good coaching in any sport is how a team performs following a timeout and the Bears scored immediately. MSU battled back for the rest of the game, eventually taking the lead and going on to win 25-20.

By Game Four, the Bears had finally run out of the grit that seemed to propel them through the earlier, closer games. Coach Bevins called a timeout after MSU went up 10-7, and then again when MSU made it 18-11, but it wasn't enough, and MSU outlasted UPIKE to take a 25-14 win.

Notes: Sophomore Paige Thacker had a team-high 13 kills for the Bears. Freshman Taylor Watkins and junior Brittany Hodge had nine kills and seven kills respectively. Senior Shelbi White had 25 digs, compared to 36 by the rest of the Bears combined. Junior Brooke Parrott was responsible for 24 of the team's 41 assists.

-UPIKE-