BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Millsaps Majors Volleyball Team came into Birmingham on Wednesday afternoon knowing they needed a win to remain in contention for the SAA Regular Season Title. They battled the Birmingham-Southern Panthers to an epic five set battle and prevailed with great defense and great efficiency in the final set to defeat BSC, 3-2.

"It wasn't always pretty, but they hung in their and fought to the very end," said Head Coach Jaime Fisher. "In the end, they proved they wanted it more."

The teams went out to a 2-2 tie before the Panthers knocked off five straight point to go up 7-2. The Majors finally got their first kill of the match as senior Kasey Laird started a chain reaction. Sophomore Caroline McKey followed adn the Majors were right back in the match as they evened the match at 12.

Birmingham-Southern scored three straight points to go on top 15-12, but the Majors stormed back to take a 17-16 lead thanks to kills from Laird, McKey, and freshman Alex Morphew.

BSC then scored four straight points to go up 20-17, but Millsaps came right back with four straight points of their own with kills from Morphew and McKey and a block by senior Sarah Zito. 

The two teams battled for the key first set victory and the Panthers stared at a 25-24 lead with their serve for the set. However, Millsaps held strong, thanks to Scott and McKey and a bad set by Birmingham-Southern gave them the 27-25 win.

Set Two was all Panthers from the start as they dominated to a 25-15 win to even the game at one.

The two teams went back and forth early is the set as they rushed out to an 11-11 tie. Birmingham-Southern scored five straight points to go out to a 16-11 lead as they looked to take command of the match. 

The Majors again scratched and clawed their way back into the match and scored five straight points thanks to kills from Laird and senior Raven Scott. Sophomore Kelley Calandro put the Majors up 19-18 with a service ace. 

With the score tied at 20, the Majors scored five of the next seven points off kills from by McKey and blocks from Zito and Scott to win 25-22.

Millsaps got things rolling in set four as they got out to a 4-1 lead thanks to kills from Zito and another service ace by Calandro. However, BSC responded and went out to a 13-9 lead. The Majors stayed within reach and cut the deficit to 21-20 as they looked to close the match, but, the Panthers sent the match into a fifth and final set with a 25-22 win.

The two teams went back and forth during the first set thanks to kills from Scott and Laird as the fifth set was even at four. The Majors then raced out to a 7-4 lead thanks to phenomenal defense led by blocks from Laird and Morphew. Again though, Birmingham-Southern stormed back and tied the game at eight.

That would be the last time BSC would close on Millsaps as the Majors outscored their opponents 7-3 thanks to kills by McKey, Scott, and Zito to take the huge win. 

McKey and Laird each had monster games offensively with 19 and 17 kills each. Zito added seven kills, while Scott added six including three in the final set. Sophomore Taylor Zeigler added 25 assists while Scott had 23.

"Kasey and Caroline carried us through offensively," explained Fisher. "However, as a while, defense and blocking made the difference when our offense couldn't get going."

Defensively, six different Majors had double digit digs including 25 from junior Casey Brown, 18 from Laird, 17 from Scott, 15 from Calandro, 13 from sophomore Taylor Zeigler, and 13 from McKey. Zito picked up six blocks while Scott had five and Laird had four.

The Majors have now won four games in a row. They also gave Birmingham-Southern their first home loss of the season and are now one game back of first place with a date with Berry College at home coming up in the future.

However, before Millsaps gets there, they will hit the road this weekend as they will take on the Centre Colonels on Friday at 5:30 p.m. before returning on Saturday to face Sewanee.