The Lady Bruins had their five-game winning streak snapped tonight as they fell to the Belmont Abbey College Crusaders in straight sets 3-0. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 12-12 on the season.

"It's a tough loss" Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "They were a really good team. I told our team in the locker room that we were going to have to bring our A-game just to hang with this team. Unfortunately, we did not."

The Crusaders opened up the first set with a 2-0 run to set the tone of the set early. Saleena Walker mishandled the ball on the following serve to give the Crusaders a 3-1 lead. The Crusaders' net defense proved to be a problem for the Bruins as a couple of blocked attacks helped put the Crusaders up 9-7. Belmont Abbey would then go on a 2-0 run to extend their lead to 11-7. The Crusaders kept pouring it on as the Bruins called a timeout trailing 21-12. Erin Jarvis immediately made back-to-back kills following the timeout to cut the Crusaders' lead down to 21-14. The Crusaders would respond with an ace in the final few points as they went on to win the set 25-15.

The Bruins looked to rebound to start the second set, but the Crusaders got the upper hand early with a 6-1 lead. Coach Denny called a timeout as the Bruins trailed 8-1. The Bruins hoped to score some points after the timeout, but instead had a double hit violation which extended the Crusaders' lead to 9-2. With momentum on their side, the Crusaders went on a 4-0 run and took a daunting 13-2 lead in the set. Despite a short rally, the Bruins weren't able to match the Crusaders effort as Belmont Abbey took the second set 25-12. 

The Bruins now faced a critical third set. Knowing that they had to win the set, the Bruins came out strong with a 3-0 run early. The Crusaders answered right back with a run of their own to tie the set at 3-3. Rachel Tubbs picked up her 25^th ace of the season to tie the set at 6-6. The Crusaders would respond by making a damaging 6-0 run to take a 12-6 lead. The Bruins were able to claw their way back into the match as they fought back to eventually tie the set at 15-15. The Crusaders responded again with a 4-0 run to make their lead 19-15 and went on to win the final set 25-19 and the match 3-0.

"We fell apart particularly in that second set," Coach Denny said. "Against a good team like that, you can't afford to not play your best ball."

Marjorie Elliott led the Bruins tonight with 4 kills while Rachel Tubbs had a team high 12 assists and seven digs. Next up, the Bruins will be on the roadThursday night as they visit Brewton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Georgia.