Women's Volleyball | 9/5/2008 8:41:08 PM

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The Monarchs lost two close matches in the first day of the Maroon Classic at Roanoke College Friday afternoon.  Methodist lost 2-3 (23-25, 25-19, 12-25, 25-13, 8-15) to Emory & Henry and then lost 2-3 (25-12, 23-25, 20-25, 28-26, 10-15) to Randolph.  The Monarchs move to 3-3 this season.

In the first match against Emory & Henry, the Monarchs lost a close first set 23-25, but came back to win the second 25-19.  The teams traded wins in the third and fourth, but it was the Wasps who prevailed in the fifth set for the match win.

Freshman Jalesty Washington led the Monarchs with 18 kills while senior Sara Yeatman had 15 and junior Taylor Cates added 10.  Junior Kelsey Carter dished out 52 assists in the match. Junior Jordan Grady paced the team with 30 digs and freshman Kelsey Yates finished with 22 digs.

The Monarchs followed up with a match against Randolph College.  The team started out strong with a resounding 25-12 victory in the first set but dropped the next two and had to battle back to a 28-26 win in the fourth set to force the fifth set.  Randolph came back and won 10-15.

Once again Washington led with 16 kills and added seven service aces.  Yeatman had seven kills and Carter finished with 46 assists.  Yates had 19 digs and Grady finished with 18 digs.

The Monarchs will face the host Roanoke Saturday at 10 am and finish up against Sweet Briar at 12 pm.