RALEIGH, N.C. - In spite of 15 kills in just 28 attempts from Meredith's Molly Markley, the visiting Knights of Southern Virginia University handed Meredith a 3-1 loss in tonight's non-league pairing. Set scores were 25-22, 14-25, 19-25, 17-25. This marks the fourth consecutive loss for the Avenging Angels as the USA South conference tournament nears.

Meredith slipped to 10-11 with the loss while the Knight's recorded their fifth win in 19 matches on the season.

The Avenging Angels came out strong with a pair of kills from senior outside Cori Spade and freshman addition Callie McDonald. The Knights dropped an error and senior setter Kara Baughman launched a winner to give the hosts a 4-0 lead.

Meredith maintained the advantage at 8-4 on a blast from Emily Hendricks when the visitors returned fire to even the score at eights.

The teams tied the game on four more occasions before Southern Virgina earned three straight on a kill plus two Meredith errors.

A big blow from junior right side hitter Anna Hayes, assisted by Clarke Glendenning, ignited a 7-1 Meredith run to give the Avenging Angels a four-point lead at set-point. The team would drop two more points on careless errors before sealing the 25-22 set win on a swing from Markley.

SVU battled back in the second frame with a pair of quick winners from Chelsea Lyons and a kill from Larissa Conger. But three missteps from the Knights pulled Meredith back to even at 3-3.

The teams exchanged the next 11 points when back-to-back blasts from Southern Virginia's Tori Tuttle pushed the Knight's on a 12-2 run to give the visitors a significant 21-10 advantage.

A Markley kill combined with a winner from Jessi Johnson and a block from Hendricks and Sarah Brandon brightened the light for the Avenging Angels, but the double-digit deficit proved too deep to recover.

Errors plagued the Meredith squad early in the third stanza leading to a 14-8 SVU advantage. A couple of unforced errors from the Knights helped Meredith to a 9-3 run to pull the hosts to within three at 17-14.

Glendenning and Hendricks connected on a kill to pull the Avenging Angels to within two at 20-18. But three unforced errors propelled the Knights to a 25-19 win to take the match lead.

The fourth and final frame opened with Meredith up 4-2 on consecutive blows from Spade. But a flurry of misfires from the Avenging Angels led SVU quietly past Meredith on their way to an 11-6 advantage.

In clear control of the set, the Knights cruised on to seal a 25-17 win for the match.

Baughman and Glendenning dished out a combined 32 assists with Ally White and Johnson grabbing 14 and 10 digs, respectively.

Tuttle earned 12 kills with just two errors and was one of three Knights with at least four blocks in the win. Libero Jordan Geist tallied a match-high 15 digs and Lyons and Kateyln Tlustek combined for 37 assists.

The Avenging Angels will need their fans in-house next Wednesday evening, October 24, as the Pacers of William Peace travel across town for a conference duel. Coach Fiona Barkley will honor her three seniors during the 7:00 p.m. event.