UPIKE Athletics

It was a milestone night for senior Lanie Hawley as the University of Pikeville rallied to remain unbeaten in the AAC with a 3-2 win over Reinhardt (Ga.) University on Friday night at the UPike Gym.
 
Hawley, a three-time all-conference selection, became the sixth player in school history to record her 1,000^th career kill. She finished the night with 12, one of four Bears with double figures on the night.
 
The win, UPike's first over Reinhardt since joining the AAC in 2023, improved the Bears to 15-3 on the season, 8-0 in the league. It also moved their win streak to nine. Reinhardt is now 12-5 overall, 6-2 in the conference.
 
Hawley was a force on both sides of the ball. In addition to her dozen kills, she had two service aces and 10 blocks, three of them solos.
 
Senior Allyah Tokelau, in first season as a Bear, had a season-best 18 kills to lead the way. Junior Cassidy Rivas followed with 14, while sophomore JLynn Risner added 11.
 
Most of those were thanks to senior Chloie Brinton, who had 50 assists on the night. The Lindon, Utah, native also paced the Bears with 22 digs.
 
Risner and junior Olivia Chapman had five blocks each, all of them assists. Freshman Baylee Moore had 20 digs. Junior Lyla Reed had 13 digs while Rivas recorded 10, giving the Bears four in double digits in that category.
 
The Bears will be back home on Saturday morning, hosting Brenau (Ga.) University. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the UPike Gym.
 
Bears 25, Eagles 20: The top teams in the AAC battled to 11 ties by the time the score was 16-16. From there, the Bears went on a 9-4 run for the win. It began with a Hawley kill – her 999^th – before she added a service ace. It ended with two attack errors.
 
Eagles 25, Bears 10: Reinhardt jumped out to a 6-0 lead and didn't look back. Senior Juliette Baffico had four kills in a 9-1 run that pushed the lead to 16-4. A Baffico kill and an attack error ended the set. It was the first loss of a set in conference play this season for the Bears.
 
Eagles 26, Bears 24: Reinhardt took a 2-1 lead before the Bears went on a 6-1 run. Three Bears had a kill in the stretch, including Hawley's milestone 1000^th. UPike scored three straight points late to take a 24-23 lead, getting kills by Tokelau and Risner to move to the cusp of the win. But the Eagles ran off the final four points, including a service ace by sophomore setter Zeynep Yilidirim for the finish.
 
Bears 25, Eagles 14: UPike scored the first three points of the game thanks to kills by Chapman and Tokelau and broke a 7-7- tie with an 8-1 run that included six straight points. In that stretch, Rivas and Hawley had two kills each and Hawley added a service ace to put the Bears on top 15-8. The biggest lead of the set came at the end, which saw Hawley record another kill and Rivas and Chapman combine for the set-ending block.
 
Bears 15, Eagles 5: The Bears used a 12-2 run to go ahead 13-3, with Risner and Tokelau coming up big with four kills each. The Eagles got within eight, 13-5, before Hawley and Risner recorded a block and Rivas slammed the kill to wrap it up.