GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- The University of Pikeville volleyball team won a set against 18th-ranked Georgetown for the first time since 2007 in the opener, but the hot start wasn't enough as the Tigers responded with three straight wins to take the match 3-1 on Wednesday.

Noelani Simpson led the Bears (5-13, 0-5 MSC) with 11 kills and Cassidy Tackett chipped in with nine, but there wasn't much offense after that. Georgetown (10-1, 5-1 MSC) posted a .246 hitting percentage, compared to a .092 mark by UPIKE.

Serve receive was a weakness all night for the Bears as they let 13 aces fall while only hitting four of their own. UPIKE was also out blocked 6-5 and trailed in digs 66-50.

Kassidy Rauh orchestrated the winning effort by dishing out 37 assists and Jenny Howell provided the firepower on the attack with 17 kills.

Simpson also led the Bears on defense with 14 digs and Zakman paced them in blocks with three while also handing out 26 assists and hitting a team-high two aces.

Tied at 18 all in the first set, Zakman took over on serve for UPIKE and went to work, helping her team to seven straight points to end the frame. Along the way, four of the points came on Tiger errors, two were on Zakman's aces and the other was from an Amari Eadie kill.

But the momentum from the run didn't carry over as Georgetown turned a 16-11 lead in the second set into a 10-point rout with a quick 5-0 run. It ended up winning the second set 25-14. Aside from a brief 3-2 lead in the fourth set, UPIKE never got itself in front again.

Georgetown went on to lead by as many as nine points in the third set at 24-15 and by as many as 14 points in the fourth at the final 25-11 score.  

UP NEXT

The Bears are off until next Friday when they travel to Life in Marietta, Ga., for a 6 p.m. ET start.

-UPIKE-