GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG volleyball team suffered its first home loss of the year Saturday night as the Spartans fell to Southern Conference foe East Tennessee State 3-0 (21-25, 25-27, 17-25) at Fleming Gymnasium. The loss snaps the Spartans' 10-game winning streak and drops them into a tie for second place in the SoCon standings.

Prior to the game, the Spartans recognized the playing careers of Lauren Betlach (Phoenix, Ariz./Seton Catholic Prep), Julia Westerbur (College Station, Texas/SMU) and Katherine Santiago (San Juan, Puerto Rico) with senior night festivities.

UNCG (20-9, 10-4 SoCon) was limited to a .160 hitting percentage in the loss, including a .095 clip in the third and final set. East Tennessee State posted 11 total blocks in the victory on defense and posted a .288 hitting percentage with 49 kills and just 15 attack errors.

The Spartans were held without a double-figure kills leader in the loss as Alexis Mourier (Elkview, W.Va./Davis and Elkins) led the team with eight kills. Jasmine Jones (Stafford, Va./Brooke Point) and Ashley Muench (Hurdle Mills, N.C./Orange) added seven kills apiece in the loss. Rylee Milhorn led ETSU with 15 kills while Briana Allmon added 12 kills and Khadijah Wiley chipped in 11 kills as the Bucs improved to 18-9 overall and 9-5 in league play.

The Spartans started the match strong, opening set one with a 15-10 leads as they posted a 6-2 run. Jones highlighted the start with three kills in the early going while Mourier capped the stretch with her first kills of the night. After an ETSU timeout, the Bucs started to chip away at the deficit and closed the set on a 15-6 run to take the set one victory. Wiley led the way with two kills early before the Bucs' defense stepped up with three straight blocks on Muench to secure the set one win. Milhorn posted six kills in the first set to lead ETSU while Jones added five kills for the Spartans.

Set two was tightly contested with the Spartans taking the early lead at 16-12 with a 7-3 run. Muench started the spurt with a pair of kills while Westerbur gave UNCG the four-point lead with a kill. ETSU answered back with a 9-3 run to take a 21-19 lead as the Bucs converted seven kills during the stretch. UNCG weathered a pair of ETSU set points as Jessica Brezwyn (Darien, Ill./Hinsdale South) notched a kill to tie the game at 25-25. ETSU tallied two straight points to take the second set as Allmon notched a kill before UNCG posted an attack error to end the set. Allmon led the Bucs with seven kills in the set while Muench added six kills for the Spartans.

East Tennessee State closed out the victory with a 25-17 win in set three. The Bucs opened up a lead early at 15-9 with a 9-3 run and continued to add distance down the stretch as UNCG committed six errors in the third set while only posting 10 kills. Milhorn again paced the Bucs with six kills in the set while defensively ETSU posted 20 digs in the set.

Betlach led the Spartans defensively with 14 digs while Muench chipped in 11 digs. Freshman setter Allison Penner (Aurora, Neb./Aurora) posted 32 assists in the loss as the Spartans finished the 2015 home season with a 10-1 record at Fleming Gymnasium.

The Spartans close out the regular season next weekend on the road as it travels to Wofford Friday night and Furman Saturday evening.

-UNCG-