Majors Drop Two Hour Marathon to Blazers, 3-1
Belhaven tops Millsaps 30-21, 30-32, 30-25, 30-27

September 4, 2007

JACKSON -- For the fourth consecutive match, the Millsaps Majors fell just several points shy of their first win of the season, falling to neighbor Belhaven College in a four-game thriller in the Hangar Dome on Tuesday evening by a 3-1 margin.

In a 2 hour and 9 minute marathon in the Majors' home-opener, both teams seemed a little shaky at the start behind a crowd of 227 after trading points on several ball handling errors.

The Blazers (3-7) held an early 13-8 lead in Game 1, forcing Millsaps head coach Matt Linebarger to call his first timeout of the match to regroup his team.

Out of the timeout, Millsaps (0-4) put together a 11-7 run to cut the gap to 20-19, capped off by a pair of well executed services from freshman Hailey Miranda to senior Ani Babinski and fellow frosh Kate Hall. A huge block by sophomore Toni Manley knotted the game at 20-20.

From there, the Majors fell behind and surrendered 10 of the final 11 points in a 30-21 loss.

In Game 2, a pair of back-to-back blocks by freshman Heather Keenan and Manley gave the Majors an early 7-3 lead, followed up by another big block from Keenan to make the score 12-6 and force a Belhaven timeout.

The two teams traded points throughout the remainder of the game before a relentless Hall point brought the Majors within two points at 29-27. Hall returned a pair of chip shots from a Blazer player and then found an open spot to drive the ball home.

After a four-hit ball from Belhaven gave Millsaps a 30-29 lead, the Blazers finished off a minute rally to tie it. Keenan eventually put the game away for the Majors to give them a 32-30 win and knot the match at one game apiece.

The Blazers opened the third game firing on all cylinders, taking an early 9-3 lead. In a back-and-forth game, the Majors closed a 27-18 gap off a 7-2 run to force a timeout before Belhaven finished it off at 30-25 for a 2-1 lead in the match.

In the fourth and final game, Belhaven opened up a 19-12 lead and stretched it out to 24-15 before Linebarger was forced to call a timeout.

Momentum seemed to shift in the match out of the timeout, with the Majors scoring 10 of 14 points, capped off by another big block by Hall that cut the Blazers gap to 28-25.

After a nice rally over the final few points and a dogfight put up by Millsaps, a diving Dixie Krauss couldn’t come up with the dig to keep the Blazers from the final 30-27 margin.

The Majors will continue action at home on Friday, hosting the Millsaps Invitational Sept. 7 and 8, welcoming Huston-Tillotson, Mississippi College, Mary Hardin-Baylor, East Texas Baptist, Loyola-New Orleans and LaGrange College to the Hangar Dome.

The first match begins at 1 p.m. with East Texas Baptist and Loyola, as the Majors open the weekend set with Huston-Tillotson at 3 p.m. on Court 1.