SEWANEE, Tenn. - Coming to the end of their conference regular season, the Panthers took their last road trip of the season to go up against the Sewanee Tigers. Birmingham-Southern previously defeated the Tigers in three sets in their match at home, but this time around the match went to set five to decide the winner. Alyssa Coats had a career high 22 kills that led the team in this match. 

Set one started with what looked to be a good start for the Panthers with an early 5-3 lead, but shortly fell behind at 8-6. The Tigers extended their lead to seven points at 17-10 but a service error started a momentum run for the Panthers. Birmingham-Southern took the next nine out of eleven points to tie it up 19-19. Kylie Wilhelmi and Alyssa Coats contributed kills to that run as well as a block from Coats and Leah Nielsen. Even after tying the set up once again at 23-23, the Panthers fell after the Tigers took the next two points to end set one. 

BSC started off strong in set two with an 8-3 lead after back to back kills from Alyssa Coats and two errors from the Tigers. Sewanee fought back to tie it up at 12-12, but a kill from Kennedy Dickens and two more attacking errors for the Tigers gave BSC the lead again 15-12. The Panthers pushed their lead to 19-15 and then 20-18, but the Tigers once again found the fight to close that game and took the lead 21-20. A service error from Sewanee and back to back kills from Kennedy Dickens made it 23-21 in favor of the Panthers, who eventually took the set 25-23. 

Set three started off as a back and forth fight with a BSC lead at 8-7 but the Tigers quickly took it back 11-8. Two kills from Kylie Wilhelmi and errors from Sewanee put the Panthers back in the game tied at 13-13. Sewanee took their momentum back and ran with it. Going up to a 21-13 lead and eventually taking the third set 25-17. 

A big block from Gigi Fields and Leah Nielsen started off set four for the Panthers and would help them go up 4-0. Back to back service aces from Grace Waddell put BSC up 10-4 and a kill from Leah Nielsen pushed it even further to 13-7. Holding a lead at 18-11, the Panthers were looking good, but the Tigers were not done and took a five point run to close the gap 18-16. The Panthers ended set four in a victory with a kill from Leah Nielsen to push them to set five. 

Set five was another close game with a lot of back and forth play between the two teams. Ainsley Schultz and Kennedy Dickens put up a block to make it 5-4 for the Panthers. Leah Neislen got a kill to make it 8-7, but the Tigers quickly took the next four to make it 11-8 in their favor. A kill from Gigi Fields started a momentum shift for the Panthers that took them all the way to match point. Leah Nielsen and Alyssa Coats also contributed kills, Abby Dunford contributed an ace and Coats and Nielsen added a block to the run. Alyssa Coats ended the match for Birmingham-Southern with a kill to take set five 15-13. 

Records
#25 Birmingham-Southern 15-3 (9-1 SAA), Sewanee 6-12 (2-8 SAA)

Set Summary
SET ONE: 25-23 Sewanee
SET TWO: 25-23 Birmingham-Southern
SET THREE: 25-17 Sewanee
SET FOUR: 25-21 Birmingham-Southern
SET FIVE: 15-13 Birmingham-Southern

Up next
The Panthers will play their next match at Centre College in Danville, Ky. on Sunday, October 16 at 11 a.m.