WINCHESTER, Va.—The Hood College volleyball team (6-9) was defeated by Shenandoah University (9-9) in non-conference action Friday night. The Blazers split the first two sets with the Hornets, however they were unable to sustain the momentum they gained at the end of the second set and dropped the third and fourth.

Hood was really no match for Shenandoah in the first set, as the Hornets opened the set on a 15-2 run that Hood could never recover from. Hood showed though that they were not going to go down without a fight as they battled hard in the second set. Hood grabbed a quick lead and seized some control with a service ace by freshman Rebecca Reiser and a kill by senior Brittany Lethbridge that made the score 12-7 in favor of Hood. Shenandoah made a comeback to get the set to 16-15, but junior Amy Hagerdon had two big kills to regain momentum. A kill by freshman Kathryn Jones gave Hood the second set victory and headed them into a decisive third set.

The third set saw both teams jostle back and forth for momentum with Shenandoah finally gaining it in the middle of the set. The Hornets scored 12 straight points to win the set and set up a potential final winning set. The fourth set was played with heart by both sides as neither team could break away from the other. Two points was the largest lead either team could get until Shenandoah broke away at the end of the set. After a Hagerdon kill made it 21-20, Shenandoah countered with a kill by Allie Pieper and took the last point of the game with a service ace by Blake Parkes that ended the contest.

Hagerdon led the Blazers in kills with seven, while Rieser and Ashley Park-Brouse each had six kills apiece. Kathryn Jones led the Blazers with eleven digs and senior Alyssa Eshleman was also in double digit digs with ten. Hood had six serving aces with two apiece from Reiser and Park-Brouse and the team had nine blocks as a whole.

The Blazers return to action right away as they head to Johns Hopkins tomorrow to take part in the Johns Hopkins Tournament. Hood's first game will be at 2:30 p.m. against Ursinus College and it will conclude at 5 p.m. with a tilt against the host Johns Hopkins.