Kingsport, TN - The Bryan College Lady Lions finished runner-up at the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament over the weekend. Their 2nd place finish earned them a bid to the NAIA National Tournament. 

Quarterfinals 
The Lady Lions started out their tournament run Friday with a win vs. the #6 seed Brenau University Tigers.  Off big performances from Lillie Van Metre (10 Kills and 6 Blocks) and Melanie Marcus (Blocks), the Lions swept the Tiger in dominant fashion 10-25; 10-25; 14-25 for their 6th straight sweep. 

Semi-Final
The Semi's were a much anticipated match up for the #3 seed Lions as the #2 seed Milligan had gotten them twice in the regular season. While redemption was on their mind, it was knowing that with a win in the semis, they were in the National tournament. 
The Lions came ready to play Saturday taking an early set 1 victory off a big front line performance laying down 14 kills winning 25-17. Set two was a different story as Milligan got the best of the Lady Lions' 7 errors, tying the match with 18-25 win.

The Lions got their rhythm back in the 3rd set with 2 early Aces and a huge kill from Raegan Malugin, along with a big set from Lillie Van Metre (6 Kills) and Canaan Drake (3 Kills). Bryan took a third set 25-19 win. The fourth set was a back and forth, but Abby Rector's 7 kills was exactly what the Lady Lions needed to close out the match taking set four 25-21 and a 3-1 match win. 


FINALS
This finals match was a long-awaited match-up between Bryan and CIU, as Bryan has the only 1 on the CIU Rams Loss column on the season.

Set one was a back and forth throughout, with Bryan even taking a late 22-21 lead, forcing a CIU timeout. But CIU capitalized on their T.O. and took the set win 23-25. The second set was all Rams, as the Lions could not find their groove. The Rams took set two 25-10. The Lions did all they could to rally back in set three, but the Rams were too much and were ready for their own redemption. CIU takes the 22-25 win, sweeping the Lady Lions. 

National Tournament
The AAC garners two automatic National Tournament bids. With CIU winning the regular season and Conference Tournament, the 2nd national tournament bid goes to the Lions as they finished 2nd in the conference tournament. The Lady Lions will head to La Crosse, WI to play Virtebo University Saturday Nov. 18 at 6:00 PM.


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