JACKSON, Miss. -- On Tuesday night, the mid-week conference matchup featured the Millsaps College volleyball team and the Birmingham-Southern Panthers.

The Majors pushed BSC to the brink, but the Panthers maintained composure to close out the night in three sets.

How It Happened
Millsaps, fueled by a packed student section, caught fire early and found themselves up 8-3. The visiting Panthers were forced to call their second timeout after a Payton Passantino ace, making the score 15-8. Unfortunately, the advantage faded away as BSC controlled eight of the next nine points, leaving Head Coach Jaime Fisher no choice but to call time. All the momentum decided to stay with Birmingham-Southern as the ball was just not falling in the home team's favor, giving the first set away 23-25.

Another strong start from Passantino and company gave the Majors a chance to hang around in the second set, ahead 12-11. Despite a strong attack from Erica Bennett, the Millsaps offense stalled, leading to a 17-25 fall.

BSC kept rolling in the final set, pushing an 8-3 lead on multiple well executed kills. Hannha Mattke turned the table on the succeeding four points to cut the Panther lead to only one. Eventually, the pace was picked up by the Majors as they took the lead for the first time in the third set at 16-15. Each team struggled to maintain possession, going back-and-forth until an attack error evened the score at 23. A late push from Birmingham-Southern overpowered the tired Majors, taking the closing set 25-23.

Notables
Passantino topped the defense with 17 digs to go along with two aces. Bennett led the offense with nine kills, while Katelyn Thomas and Mary Tebbe recorded 12 assists each.

What's Next?
Millsaps volleyball will be right back in the Hangar Dome at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday to take on Centre College. The Majors will continue the homecoming weekend of competition on Sunday when they battle it out with Sewanee at 12:00 p.m.
 

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