Pirates Rally For Five-Set Win At Montevallo

MONTEVALLO, Ala. - The Armstrong Atlantic State volleyball squad rallied from two sets down and staved off two match points to pick up a 3-2 Peach Belt Conference victory over host Montevallo on Friday night at BankTrust Arena in Montevallo, Ala. Set scores were: 13-25, 29-31, 25-23, 25-11, 17-15.

Montevallo (14-11, 4-5 PBC) enjoyed two match points, leading 14-12 in the fifth set over the Pirates (16-7, 7-2 PBC) after a Kristin Standhardinger service error, but an attack error by the Falcons' Carson Anderson and a bad set by Anna Garrison tied the set up at 14-all. A block by Amy Birkemeier and Michele Remlinger gave the Pirates a match point at 15-14, but Katy Handrick's kill evened things up at 15-all.

Handrick's attack error gave the Pirates their second match point at 16-15, and this time Birkemeier collected the kill to give the Pirates the victory. Birkemeier was one of a trio of Pirates in double digit kills on the night - Torrie Bevolo notched 13 kills with a season-high 24 digs, while Michele Remlinger added 11 kills and six blocks. Kristin Standhardinger notched 49 assists on the night while Casey Howett chipped in 21 digs.

For the Falcons, Handrick led the way with a match-high 17 kills, while Katie Johnson added 12 kills. Anna Garrison tallied 42 assists and Brittany Wilson notched 19 digs.

The win stretched AASU's win streak in the league to four as the Pirates moved to within a half-game of conference leader Flagler, who was idle on Friday. Montevallo has dropped its last two league matches and falls to below .500 in the league for the first time this season.

AASU returns to action on Friday, October 23, as the Pirates host the first day of the 2009 PBC/Conference Carolinas Crossover, taking on Pfeiffer at 7:00 p.m. at the ARC.