Hickory, NC - Cape Fear volleyball suffered its first loss of the season on Friday, falling to Owens Community College, 3-1.
Both teams entered the match undefeated, with the Sea Devils at 14-0 and the Express at 26-0. Owens, out of Perrysburg, Ohio, traveled to the Catawba Valley Tournament as the #1 ranked team in NJCAA Division II.
The Sea Devils found themselves in a hole after the first two sets, losing them by scores of 25-12 and 25-14. The situation wasn't new, however; the team had managed to come from two sets down to win on more than one occasion this season. The comeback started in the third set, as the girls edged Owens 25-23. During the third set, Cape Fear held Owens to a hitting percentage of just .276. Unfortunately, the Express composed themselves in the fourth set, and won 25-14.
It was a tough task for Cape Fear, but head coach Emily Coleman was proud of the way her fought team to win the third set.
"I'm proud of our fight and the ability to earn the third set," said Coleman.
However, too many errors made it difficult for Cape Fear to complete the comeback, according to Coleman.
"We shot ourselves in the foot with our errors," said Coleman.
Despite the loss, a few Sea Devils stood out. Freshman middle blocker Shilah Haumann finished with 16 kills and a hitting percentage of .547, while sophomore defensive specialist Karly Mathias had 26 kills.
Cape Fear falls to 14-1 on the season, but will have a chance to rebound from the loss with three more matches over the weekend at the Catawba Valley Tournament.
Courtesy of Nick Denning