RALEIGH, N.C.  Playing the back-to-back matches in Saturday's USA South Athletic Conference volleyball tri-match resulted in a win and a loss for Methodist's Monarchs. They were forced into a lengthy five-set match against Greensboro College, winning 3-2, and stepped right back onto the court at William Peace University to take on the hosts, who swept the match by a 3-0 count.

JUST THE FACTS
Final scores: William Peace def. Greensboro, 3-0 (25-8, 25-15, 25-23); Methodist def. Greensboro, 3-2 (19-25, 25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 15-7); William Peace def. Methodist, 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-19)
Records: Methodist 16-9 overall (9-7 USA South); William Peace 23-5 (15-1); Greensboro 4-22 (3-13)
Location: Hermann Gym, William Peace College; Raleigh, N.C.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Greensboro had found some things that were beginning to work in its final set during the loss to William Peace, and that momentum translated into an opening-set win against Methodist.
• The Monarchs were able to respond, taking the second set trailing only at 1-0 and finishing it off with a block assist from Brittany Ter Meer and Erica East.
• The Pride broke out off the start in the third set, racing out to a 5-0 lead before a service error ended the string of unanswered points.
• The advantage lasted until a four-point run turned a 13-11 deficit into a 15-13 Methodist lead. Samantha Spooner came up with the first kill in that run, volowed by a pair of Ter Meer knock downs sandwiched around a Greensboro setting error.
• A bad set on Methodist's side of the net notched a point for the Pride, but another Ter Meer kill sparked a 3-0 run that added a cushion to the Monarchs' lead.
• Spooner and Ter Meer finished off the set with the 24th and 25th points, respectively, on their own kills.
• With victory within reach, Methodist was the team that broke out of the gate quickly in the fourth, pushing out to an advantage of 6-1. Just like in the third set, however, the trailing team rallied just past the midway point of the set and never looked back as the Pride took the set and forced a deciding fifth.
• Greensboro gave up a point on a ball-handling error when tied at 3-3, which was bad news for the Pride. Maddie Barga took the opportunity to drop in a service ace to break the tie, and Ter Meer pounded down another point to extend the lead.
• A three-point string opened up the lead later, and a four-point run ended the set, allowing the Monarchs to escape with the set, and match win.
• Methodist earned early points and an early lead in the opening set against William Peace, but it surrendered the lead at 3-3 in the set and never found its game the rest of the way, slipping to a one-set deficit against a team that has only lost one conference match this season.
• Jamie Jones got Methodist off on the right foot in the second set, but the lead would be short-lived and the Pacers would never trail again, neither in the second nor in the third set as they would finish off the victory with a sweep of the Monarchs.

MATCH FACTS

• Ter Meer, in her final regular-season weekend, set a new single-match high in kills during the victory over Greensboro. Her 23 surpassed the 22 she had rung up on October 1, 2016.
• Lili Henry, Megan Andrews and Alyssa Coffey are most certainly going to need extra detergent when their uniforms get washed after the weekend. The trio each came up with 19 digs off the floor in the Greensboro match. Together with Riley Adair's 12 digs, that quartet -- with 69 digs -- nearly out-paced Greensboro, which finished the match with a total of 78 digs.
• Henry came up with a team-best 11 in the William Peace contest.
• Methodist accumulated nine service aces against the Pride. Barga had three of them.
• Blocking at the net was another high point for the Monarchs in their victory over Greensboro. As a team they accumulated eight blocks, to just three for Greensboro, with Jasmine Tapscott leaping up for two solo blocks and assisting on another, and Ter Meer assisting on three and adding one solo block herself.
• Methodist accrued nine receiving errors in the William Peace match, and were only able to come up with one service ace.
• The Pacers also out-blocked the Monarchs, 6-3.

NEXT UP

• It's tourney time for the Monarchs as they enter the ≥USA South postseason tournament as the No. 5 seed from the East Division.
• Three teams from the East, all below Methodist in the standings and unable to catch the Monarchs, have two matches remaining on their regular-season schedules, as do all the teams in the West Division.
• Tournament seedings and pairings will be announced after all the teams close out those scheduled contests.