BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University volleyball dropped a four-set defeat, 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 23-25, 18-25), to Towson on the opening night of the Appalachian Invitational on Friday night.
The Mountaineers (2-3) were led by freshman Kara Spicer who finished with a team-high 17 kills. Amanda Krahl ran the offense and finished with 38 assists on the night.Â
Defensively, four Mountaineers finished with double-digit digs. Olivia Loeffler collected a team-high 19 digs, while both Krahl and Sydney Hinds had 12 digs and Emma Reilly totaled 11.
The opening set included 12 ties and seven lead changes and neither team went on a run longer than three points. With the score 24-22, the Mountaineers pulled away with the set on a kill by Cassidy Stephenson and a Towson (4-0) attack error.
Down 14-11 midway through the second set, the Mountaineers rallied and used a 6-0 tun to take a 17-14 lead. Towson would tie the set up at 18-18 but Lexi Kohut answered with a kill to regain the lead. Towson and App State would trade points for the remainder of the set until the Tigers went on a 3-0 run to seal the set 25-23.
Towson would ride its momentum from the second set and take an 8-3 lead in the third. Appalachian would claw its way back, however, and use back-to-back kills by Spicer and a Tiger service error to take an 18-17 advantage.
Following a challenge by head coach Matt Ginipro that was overturned in favor of App State, the Mountaineers went on a 7-2 run to go up 22-18. Towson responded with its own 7-1 run to take the third set 25-23.
Despite being down 11-6 early in the fourth set, Appalachian used a 5-1 to get within one point, 13-12. The Mountaineers played the Tigers even for the rest of the set, but dropped the set and match, 25-18.
The Mountaineers play two matches tomorrow in the Appalachian Invitational with a matchup against East Tennessee State at 12:30 p.m. and a night contest against Virginia at 7 p.m.
