Spartanburg, SC – The Bryan College Lions volleyball team dropped a hard-fought Appalachian Athletic Conference match to Spartanburg Methodist on Saturday morning, falling 3-1 (15-25, 20-25, 25-21, 17-25) at Bridges Arena. The loss moves Bryan to 2-30 overall and 1-14 in conference play, while SMC improves to 12-16 and 7-8 in the AAC.

After dropping the first two sets, Bryan showed resilience in the third frame, claiming a 25-21 victory to extend the match. The Lions built momentum late in the set, with key contributions from across the roster to stave off the sweep.

Freshman outside hitter Shelby Kelly paced the Lions' attack with 13 kills on 38 attempts, adding four assists in the losing effort. Sophomore Leah Lindquist contributed six kills while hitting .267, and junior Bella Beard tallied five kills with two block assists.

Maya Gipson orchestrated the offense with 13 assists while also contributing three kills on an efficient .600 hitting percentage. Kaci Wade distributed 15 assists and added a kill in the match.

Defensively, Elise Brew led all players with 10 digs, while Avery Baxter recorded eight digs to go along with two assists.

The home team was led by Hana Vucinic, who posted a match-high 16 kills while hitting .379. Braelynn Brewington added 15 kills and two solo blocks, while Kendall Meinders chipped in 10 kills for the balanced SMC attack. Setter Brook Noe tallied 29 assists, and Tristan Craine added 21 assists in the victory. Aurora Aho anchored the back row with 19 digs.

Bryan struggled with attacking efficiency, hitting just .133 for the match compared to SMC's .290 clip. The Lions committed 24 attacking errors on 128 total attempts.
Bryan will look to regroup as they continue AAC play.