JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The UNCG volleyball team mounted a furious rally from two sets down Friday night, but ETSU did barely enough to hold off the Spartans and captured a 3-1 (25-20, 25-13, 23-25, 29-27) decision inside Brooks Gymnasium. The loss snapped a five-game SoCon winning streak for the Spartans as they fell to 9-6 overall and 2-1 in league action. ETSU upped its record to 7-11 and 2-1.

The Bucs ran nearly their entire offense through their middle hitters Khadijah Wiley and Meredith Hardy and they picked up their teammates, recording 36 of ETSU's 56 kills. The next highest attacker for East Tennessee State had just eight. For UNCG, four Spartans reached double figures with freshman outside Ashley Muench leading the way with 12. She completed her first career double-double by adding 12 digs. Sophomore outside Jessica Brezwyn and junior middles Vicky Harley and Kelsey Sidney all chipped in with 11 apiece. Defensively, junior libero Katherine Santiago tallied a team-best 17 digs. Sophomore setter Sara Hohman fell just one dig short of a double-double with 45 assists and nine digs.

In a reflection of the competitiveness of the match, UNCG actually led in kills (61-56) and digs (78-68) while East Tennessee State held the upper hand in blocking (9.0-5.0).

An attacking error by Sidney gave ETSU an early 5-2 lead in the first set before an ace by Brezwyn brought the Spartans to within 12-10. East Tennessee State led by as much as 16-11 as the set wore on, but UNCG had an answer – putting together an 8-1 run to pull ahead 19-17. It would not be enough, however, as the Bucs responded back with an identical 8-1 run of their own to claim the frame 25-20. The Spartans hurt themselves in the stanza by committing 11 errors to end up with a .070 hitting mark. It proved to be the difference in the set as UNCG led in almost all other categories.

An ace by Brezwyn kept the Spartans close in the second set as they trailed just 5-4. However, ETSU scored five-straight points to seize control of the proceedings. The Bucs would roll to the end, winning the stanza 25-13. UNCG continued to struggle offensively in the second frame, hitting just .032 and making seven more errors. Conversely, the Bucs recorded 14 kills and committed just one error to fire at a .433 clip.

The Spartans racked up a 14-10 advantage in the third set, but East Tennessee State rallied and pushed ahead 17-15 when Wiley put down a kill. The teams fought to the end and with the score knotted at 22, UNCG received two kills from Westerbur to win the set 25-23 and stay in the match.

The Blue and Gold was forced into an early timeout when the Spartans fell behind 8-3. UNCG pulled to within 14-12 on a kill by Sidney and eventually pulled even at 20 points when ETSU was called for a ball-handling error. Two kills by Sidney afforded the Spartans a 22-20 lead, but East Tennessee State answered right back with two-straight points to knot the score. The teams fought to a 24-24 deadlock before ETSU nudged ahead with a couple of match points. The Bucs were able to get a kill and an attacking error by Muench to seal the fourth set 29-27 and the match.

UNCG closes the weekend Saturday with a 2 p.m. match at Furman.

Follow the UNCG volleyball team year round by logging on to www.uncgspartans.com and following the Spartans' official Twitter accounts @UNCGVB and @uncgsports.