BOONE, N.C.- With the Appalachian Invitational tournament title on the line, Appalachian State University volleyball was unable to comeback after falling behind 2-1, as the Apps were handed their first loss of the 2010 season by Valparaiso Saturday evening at the Holmes Center. The defeat snaps a six match home-winning streak for the Black and Gold and drops ASU to 6-1 on the season, while the Crusaders improve to 6-1 overall.

After winning the first set convincingly, Appalachian was not able to repeat its performance, with the Crusaders picking up victories in three-straight sets.

In second set play, the Black and Gold started out sluggish and could never recover from what proved to be a dooming deficit.

Finding themselves down 12-4, Kelly Rhein helped switch the momentum in Appalachian's favor.

Rhein posted two service aces and while serving enabled ASU to go on a 5-0 run to pull within four points, down 13-9.

Rhein had yet another double-digit kill and dig outing, totaling a team-best 12 kills to go along with 11 digs.

The strong effort however wasn't enough, as the Black and Gold found themselves within a point reach down just 21-20.

Stellar blocking by Meghann Forshey and Jessica Eley along with a Crusader attack error made it a one-point set, but that proved not to be enough, as Valparaiso hung on for the narrow two point set win to even match play at one all.

Forshey ended the night with 10 kills and three block assists.

The third set was tightly contested as well, even though ASU jumped out to an early 5-1 lead.

Action was knotted at the 10 and 11-point marks before a Tara Diebler kill earned the Crusaders the advantage for good.

After falling behind by four, blocking kept ASU in the set, as two straight block assists by Caroline Sedon and Maggie Seeds and Seeds and Alison Blasingame and a solo block by Seeds made the score 22-21, with the Black and Gold down but not quite out.

One point however would be the narrowest of margins, as Valparaiso dominated down the stretch to hand Appalachian a four point three-set defeat, falling 25-21.

Valparaiso continued to click on all cylinders in the fourth and what would be final set, and ASU had no answer for a stout Crusader offense.

Down 17-11, the Apps were not able to muster a comeback, even after pulling within five points off of Forshey and Blasingame kills.

Diebler led Valparaiso in the final points of fourth set play, tallying three kills and VU dealt Appalachian a 25-16 fourth set and 3-1 match defeat.

The 2010 season carries on, with Appalachian hitting the road for two more tournaments. The Apps first head to Akron, Ohio to compete at the Akron Invitational, with their first match taking place Friday, September 10 against host Akron at 2 p.m.