Pioneers Drop Pair at CIU Invitational

Columbia, S.C. – The Spartanburg Methodist College volleyball team dropped a pair of matches at the CIU Invitational, losing to UM Dearborn in five (22-25, 25-21, 11-25, 25-15, 9-15) and Reinhardt in three (20-25, 14-25, 16-25).

The two losses drop the Pioneers to 5-9 on the season.

In the loss to UM Dearborn, it was the second five-set match for SMC. The Pioneers recorded a .133 hitting percentage in the contest. Makinnley Smart accounted for 14 of the 46 kills for SMC. Tristan Craine and Brook Noe had 19 and 17 assists, respectively. The Pioneers served up 12 service aces with four each by Noe and Hana Vucinic. Aurora Aho had 10 digs and Kendall Meinders put her hands on six blocks – a block solo and five block assists.

Tied for the third time in the opening set at 7, UM Dearborn scored the next six points on its way to a 25-22 win. The second set saw the Pioneers jump out to a 6-2 lead. SMC stretched the lead to as much as nine, 15-6 en route to a 25-21 win by the Pioneers to even the match at a set apiece.

The third set saw the Wolverines of UM-Dearborn race out to an 11-3 lead as they regained the lead in the match with a 25-11 set victory. A resilient SMC squad came back in the fourth set as they came back from an early 4-1 deficit. With a 13-12 lead, the Pioneers scored six-straight points that included a pair of kills by Smart and a service ace by Vucinic to make it a 19-12 advantage in favor of SMC. The Pioneers tied the match at two sets apiece as they won the set by a 25-15 margin.

The fifth and final set saw the Wolverines take its first lead of the set with three-straight points for a 6-4 lead. After getting within one on a pair of occasions, a 5-1 spurt by UM-Dearborn was just enough to secure the set by a 15-9 margin and win the match.

In the second match of the day, Reinhardt won by a 25-20, 25-14, 25-16 margin. Smart recorded eight more kills in the loss, plus teammate Kendall Meinders had four kills and three more blocks – two block solos and a block assist.

The first set saw the two teams tied on four occasions. SMC held the lead for most of the set until Reinhardt erased a 19-17 deficit with six-straight points to take a 23-19 lead. The comeback propelled the Eagles to a 25-20 win in the opening set. Reinhardt nearly led from start to finish in the second set as they took a two set to none lead in the match with a 25-14 win. After the third set was tied for the third time at 10, the Eagles of Reinhardt scored 10 in a row on its way to clinch the match with a 25-16 set victory.

Next up for the Pioneers is a trip to nearby Bob Jones University in Greenville on Tuesday at 7 p.m.