RALEIGH, N.C. -- Wednesday night's cross town rival pairing with the Meredith College volleyball team at William Peace fell short for the Avenging Angels. After claiming the first set, MCVB lost the next three for a 3-1 (25-21, 14-25, 17-25, 8-25) loss to the Pacers.

The loss dropped Meredith (10-4) to third in USA South East Division standings behind Peace (11-3) and Averett (15-0) with just one weekend remaining in the regular season. The Avenging Angels will finish in one of the necessary top-six spots to advance to the conference tournament playoffs, but Saturday's play day versus Ferrum and Methodist will be a factor for tournament seeding.

The Angels appeared to have their strategy in place and the match under control during the first set. Match-leader Caroline Corey opened the frame with 1-of-18 kills, and MCVB never trailed en route to a four-point victory.

But the game plan quickly unraveled. The Pacers launched an 8-1 rally to open the second stanza, including three WPU stuffs in five Meredith attack errors. Hannah Blaylock fed Corey for two more winners, and rookie Carson Jones stepped in opposite of Corey to assist the attack. MCVB trailed by at least seven and as many as 11 the rest of the set.

The Angels improved their performance in set three, but so did the Pacers. Meredith hit .214 for their best frame on the night, but William Peace drained a set-high 14 kills with just two errors for .444 hitting to finish off Meredith for a 2-1 match lead.

Meredith continued to battle, but WPU used a home crowd advantage to hold onto the momentum for a four set finish.

Corey added 11 digs for her fourth double-double on the season, and Jones tallied 11 kills with three digs. Katie Keen and Lauren Phillips notched a pair of 14-dig efforts, and Hannah Blaylock led all with 34 assists.

Three Pacers posted eight kills to lead WPU, and Carson Willams grabbed a match-high 22 digs in the win.

Meredith opens Saturday's USA South tri-match with Ferrum at Noon and caps off the day with the Methodist Monarchs, slated for a 4 p.m. start. The two visiting teams pair off at 2 p.m. in Weatherspoon Gym. Interim Head Coach Kenzie Aries and her team will honor the four senior Angels prior to the opening serve. Follow the live action HERE.

The top-two seeds in each division at the end of the regular season will host their respective division playoffs on Halloween.