GREENWOOD, S.C. – Southern Wesleyan volleyball was never able to get on top of Lander on Tuesday night, falling in three extremely close sets 26-24, 25-17, 37-35.

SWU (6-3) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set after dropping the first two.  The Warriors led 14-8 and 17-13 before the undefeated Bearcats (9-0) stormed back to tie the set at 17-17, a telling tale for the rest of the set.

The Warriors climbed back on top at 23-20 on a kill from Sarah Hughey but a timeout by Lander killed the momentum.  Three straight points tied the set at 23-23 before the first set-point for the Warriors at 24-23. In a sign of things to come Lander rallied to tie the set at 24-24.  The Warriors fought off seven set points before the Warriors finally took the upper hand at 32-31.  The Bearcats then responded to fight off two more set points for the Warriors.  After two more rallies were snuffed out by the Warriors, the Bearcats finally prevailed at 37-35.

The first set was a similar story as the Warriors led 21-17 before Lander reeled off five straight points to take the upper hand at 22-21.  SWU retook the lead at 23-22 on a bad set from Lander but the Bearcats scored four of the final five points to take the set at 26-24.

Megan Widener put on an all-around performance for the ages with 41 assists and 21 digs and two kills.  Her performance was her second straight double-double as both her assists and digs totals were a season high.  Sarah Hughey led all players with 20 kills and added 16 digs to record her third double-double of the season. Her 20 kills are a season-high.  Cherilyn Ramsey added 11 kills to the offensive attack.  Courtney O'Brien provided 21 digs and four assists.

The Warriors labored to hit just .148, the second lowest output this season. Lander hit .221 as Sydney Tracy led three players in double figures with 18 kills.  Jessica Register collected 49 assists and 19 digs.

Lander was consistent  in all three sets hitting between .219 and .225 in the three sets while the Warriors bottomed out at .075 in set two and hit .190 in the lengthy third set.  SWU collected 23 kills in that third set as Hughey collected 13 of those.

The Warriors will open up play in Conference Carolinas this weekend, playing at Belmont Abbey on Friday at 7 p.m. followed by a match at Pfeiffer on Saturday at 2 p.m.

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