SEWANEE, Tenn. – The University of Pikeville volleyball team put up a strong battle in a pair of matches, but ended up with three losses on the first day of the Sewanee Invitational on Friday.

The Bears lost to Cumberland (Tenn.) 3-1 (34-32, 24-26, 25-19, 25-21) and Piedmont (Ga.) 3-2 (23-25, 25-12, 23-25, 25-12, 17-15). Only Sewanee (Tenn.) captured a 3-0 sweep of UPIKE with scores of 25-15, 25-10, 25-15.

Haley Esquivel led UPIKE in kills in two of the matches, including a team-high on the day of 13 against Cumberland.
 

Cumberland 3, UPIKE 1

Pikeville had two players reach double figures in kills with Esquivel's 13 and Rachel Murphy tallying 12, but 20 kills from Sheridan Jones was too much to handle in the loss.

UPIKE hit a decent .148 as a team, while the Bulldogs managed a .216 clip behind 20-for-44 attack performance from Jones.

The first two sets went beyond regulation as Cumberland escaped with a 34-32 win in the first before UPIKE evened the match with a 26-24 decision.

It looked like the Bears would even the match again in the fourth set after building a 13-7 lead, but the Bulldogs went on a 6-1 run to catch up and eventually earn a four-point win in the set.

 
Piedmont 3, UPIKE 2

In an odd display of scoring, Pikeville won its two sets by the same 25-23 score and Piedmont captured its first two by the same 25-12 score. But it was the decisive fifth that mattered most, and Piedmont came out on top 17-15 to win the match.

Murphy and Sydney Hall led UPIKE on the attack with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while Sydney Morris dished out 33 assists and 15 digs. UPIKE fell apart in the two 12-point sets due to inconsistent attacks.

In those two frames alone, the Bears hit -.053 and an even .000, giving them a .099 hitting percentage for the match, compared to .182 for Piedmont.

Three Lions reached double figures in kills, led by Jackie Campbell (18), Jennifer Opper (14) and Mallory Leary (10).
 

Sewanee 3, UPIKE 0

Not a lot went right for UPIKE in the shutout loss to Sewanee as the Bears never registered more than 15 points in a set. Esquivel paced the team in kills with five, but hit just -.125 to get there.

Hall was the most consistent UPIKE attacker with three kills on nine attempts, while Morris handed out 13 assists and Dominique Melvin found a team-high eight digs.

Sewanee finished with a .365 hitting percentage, boosted by a monster .625 second set when it connected on 11-of-16 swings with just one error. Jamie Sue Wilson led Sewanee with 12 kills and Rachel Schuman tallied a match-high 18 assists.

 
The Bears return to action on the final day of the Sewanee Invitational at 11 a.m. ET against Brescia (Ky.), followed by a meeting with Pensacola Christian at 1 p.m.