Women's Volleyball 9/30/2016 8:48:00 PM Derrick Blyberg, Sports Information Director

Blue Knights Stumble in Conference Road Opener

Box Score

FAIRMONT, W. Va. - After capturing the opening set in dramatic fashion, the Urbana volleyball team came up short over the next three frames in Friday night's loss to Fairmont State in Joe Retton Arena. The Blue Knights won 32-30 in Set 1, and then fell by final scores of 10-25, 21-25 and 21-25.

Urbana dropped to 7-9 overall and slid under .500 in league play at 1-2. Fairmont State improved to 8-6 and 2-0 in conference play.

Katlynn Dunlap led the Blue Knights with her seventh double-double of the season. The junior outside hitter recorded 14 kills and collected 14 digs while hitting .211 on a team-high 38 attacks. Dunlap is closing in on 1,000 career kills, raising her three-year total to 971 after Friday's match, as she is looking to become just the fourth Blue Knight to reach the milestone.

Aleese Butler led the UU comeback with six kills in the first set, and ended up with a season-high 13 kills overall. Mikaela Beck also had 13 kills and posted her sixth double-double effort with 13 digs. Setter Alyssa Myers dished out 40 assists.

Libero Brianna Burkhalter led the defense with 15 digs and Audrey Pumford had 12 to mark the fourth match this season with four Blue Knights collecting double-digit digs.

In the thrilling first set, UU trailed the majority of the way, and by as much as seven points on two occasions before completing the comeback. Down 17-10, UU brought it back to within two points to force a Falcon timeout at 17-15.

The momentum shifted back into FSU's favor as the home team held a set-point chance with the score 24-22; however, Dunlap and Beck came up huge with back-to-back kills to tie the score. UU finally grabbed its first lead at 27-26 as the teams went back-and-forth, trading the lead seven times. Eventually the Blue Knights came out on top as Dunlap ended it with her fifth kill of the set.

Fairmont State cruised in the second set, and then staved off Urbana in a pair of close battles over the final two frames. Mackenzie Harrison led the Falcons with a match-high 20 kills and 15 digs.

As a team, UU hit .106 for the match and recorded its best pecentage in the fourth set at .200. FSU hit at a .270 clip and a team-best .423 in Set 2.

Urbana will quickly return to action with an afternoon match at Shepherd tomorrow. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The Rams defeated Notre Dame in four sets on Friday night.

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Players Mentioned

#19 Mikaela Beck: OH; 5' 10"; Senior

#9 Brianna Burkhalter: DS; 5' 4"; Junior

#8 Aleese Butler: MH/RS; 5' 10"; Junior

#20 Katlynn Dunlap: OH; 5' 9"; Junior

#3 Alyssa Myers: S; 5' 10"; Freshman

#1 Audrey Pumford: S; 5' 7"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#19 Mikaela Beck
: 5' 10"; Senior
: OH

#9 Brianna Burkhalter
: 5' 4"; Junior
: DS

#8 Aleese Butler
: 5' 10"; Junior
: MH/RS

#20 Katlynn Dunlap
: 5' 9"; Junior
: OH

#3 Alyssa Myers
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: S

#1 Audrey Pumford
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: S