JACKSON - In front of a rocking home crowd at The Hangar Dome, the Millsaps Majors Volleyball pulled out two tough sets before pulling away from Faulkner, 25-20, 26-24, and 25-16. 

"It was a great first win," said Head Coach Jaime Fisher. "I thought the team came out ready to play and we remained composed throughout the entire match."

The two teams traded blows early on, with big kills as well as shaking off some jitters with a few errors.

The Majors (1-0) extended their lead to 11-9, before the Eagles (0-1) responded with some tough points to make take a 14-13 lead. However, the Majors scored on four straight points to go up 17-13, thanks to kills from sophomore Caroline McKey and Senior Kasey Laird.

The resilent Eagles did not go down easily as they countered to and eventually tied the game at 19. From there on, it was all Majors as they scored six of the final seven points to pick up the 25-20 victory in Set One. McKey was key with three kills to go along with two service aces.

"It was important to get off to a good start," said the sophomore out of Baton Rouge. "I wanted to make myself known and let the team know that I can be a go-to player and be there for them."

The Majors came out hot in the second set, rolling to a 7-2 lead off big plays from Laird and fellow senior Raven Scott. The Eagles came clawing back though as they continued to chip away at a deficit that got as high as seven and eventually got the game tied again at 19 and even took the lead 20-19 after rattling off six straight points.

However, Millsaps stayed cool under pressure and responded big time to tie at back and eventually took a Set Two after a devastating kill by Laird to cap off an eight kill set. Scott was also brilliant, adding eight assists in the set as all the momentum was in the Majors favor.

"Myself, Raven, and Taylor (Zeigler) really started connecting," said Laird. "We've been working hard on getting our sets together and things just starting clicking."

Millsaps wasted no time in the final set, taking a lead as large as 20-10 and eventually taking the match with a 25-16 victory.

Laird was dominant offensively wiht 14 kills on the night as she moves within 31 kills of joining the elusive 1,000-1,000 club. She also added five block assists. Scott was also excellent as she picked up 17 assists, nine kills, and 11 digs while sophomore Taylor Ziegler added 13 assists. The Majors combined for 16 block assists on the evening.  

The Majors also got great performances with senior Sarah Zito, McKey, and freshman Lexus Andrews.

But Millsaps already sees the improvement that can be made after one game.

"We need to do some little things better when we get good opportunities," said Fisher. "But overall, we are in a good spot to keep moving forward."

The Majors are back in action tomorrow afternoon when they take on East Texas Baptist at 3 p.m. before finished the Invitational with cross-town rival Belhaven at 5 p.m.